HISTORICAL  GUIDES 

CLASSICAL 
RONE 


GRANT    ALLEN'S    HISTORICAL    GUIDES 

CLASSICAL 
ROME 


H.    STUART   JONES,    M.A. 

FORMERLY    DIRECTOR    OF   THE   ^RITISH    SCHOOL    AT    ROME 


NEW   YORK 

HENRY    HOLT    AND    COMPANY 
LONDON  :    GRANT   RICHARDS,  LTD. 


TO 
COUNTESS   HEDWIG   OF   NESSELRODE-REICHENSTEIN 


.  .  .  es  ist  alles  beseelt  in  deinen  heiligen  Mauern, 
Ewige  Roma. 


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PREFACE 

NOT  only  do  fresh  discoveries  alter  the  aspect  of 
ancient  sites,  but  the  monuments  in  Roman  museums 
are  frequently  rearranged,  and  new  acquisitions  are  ex- 
hibited. No  effort  to  keep  abreast  of  such  changes  can  be 
entirely  successful,  but  this  guide  has  been  brought  up  to 
date  as  far  as  possible.  The  author  is  indebted  to  Dr.  Ashby, 
Director  of  the  British  School  at  Rome,  for  information 
supplied  while  the  sheets  were  passing  through  the  press. 
For  the  rest,  he  will  only  take  this  opportunity  of  acknow- 
ledging the  great  debt  which  he,  like  all  students  of  Roman 
antiquities,  owes  to  the  writings  of  Wolfgang  Helbig, 
Christian  Huelsen,  and  Walther  Amelung. 

November,  1910. 


INTRODUCTORY   NOTE 

IN  order  to  keep  the  volumes  of  this  guide  within  a 
size  convenient  to  the  traveller,  the  book  has  been 
divided  into  two  parts — the  one  dealing  with  Classical,  the 
other  with  Christian  Rome. 

Classical  Rome  possesses  a  double  interest  for  the  modern 
visitor  :  firstly — and  chiefly — on  account  of  her  unique  posi- 
tion in  history  as  the  first  and  last  capital  of  a  world-empire 
embracing  western  civilisation ;  secondly,  as  the  latest 
home  of  classical  art,  where  many  of  the  finest  works  of 
Greek  craftsmen  were  ultimately  housed,  and  practically  all 
were  represented  by  copies,  many  of  which  are  still  pre- 
served in  her  museums.  Some  will  find  a  greater  attraction 
in  the  monuments  which  illustrate  the  history  of  the  Roman 
people,  from  its  obscure  beginnings  to  its  Imperial  splen- 
dour, others  in  the  art  treasures  of  the  Roman  collections 
and  the  story  which  they  tell  to  the  trained  eye  ;  but  no  one 
who  wishes  to  enjoy  to  the  full  what  Rome  can  give  him 
should  neglect  either  field  of  study. 

It  would  be  impossible  to  arrange  the  monuments  de- 
scribed in  this  book  in  strictly  chronological  order  without 
much  waste  of  space,  nor  would  it  be  advisable  for  the 
traveller  whose  time  is  limited  to  visit  them  in  such  order. 
So  much  of  the  history  of  Rome  is  contained  in  the  Forum, 
the  Sacred  Way,  and  the  Palatine  that  they  must  claim 
attention  first  ;  in  the  framework  thus  supplied  other  monu- 
ments will  easily  find  their  places.  Next  should  come  a 
visit  to  the  Capitol,  where,  apart  from  the  historical  associa- 
tions of  the  site,  the  art  collections  of  the  Museo  Capitolino 
and  the  Palazzo  dei  Conservatori  furnish  a  conspectus  of 

ix 


X  INTRODUCTORY  NOTE 

ancient  art  in  all  its  periods,  ending,  as  is  fit,  with  that  of 
the  Roman  Empire,  embodied  in  Imperial  portraits  and 
historical  reliefs.  It  is  but  a  few  steps  from  the  Capitol  to 
the  region  of  the  Imperial  Fora  on  the  one  side,  and  on 
the  other  lies  the  Campus  Martius.  In  these  quarters  the 
traveller  will  learn  something  of  the  transformation  wrought 
by  the  Emperors  in  Central  Rome.  Climbing  the  Eastern 
heights,  he  will  realise  how  the  region  of  parks,  palaces, 
and  baths  formed  an  outer  ring  about  the  busy  quarters  of 
the  city,  and  in  the  Villa  Borghese  and  the  Museo  delle 
Terme  he  will  continue  his  study  of  ancient  sculpture.  At 
the  east  extremity  of  the  Caelian  is  the  Lateran,  with  its 
museum  of  sculpture,  and  crossing  the  Caelian  into  the 
valley  by  which  the  Appian  Way  issues  from  Rome,  we  come 
to  the  imposing  ruins  of  the  Baths  of  Caracalla,  and  com- 
plete our  circuit  by  a  visit  to  the  Aventine  and  the  riverside 
quarter.  There  still  remains  the  right  bank  of  the  Tiber, 
with  the  great  collections  of  the  Vatican,  which  must  be 
visited  again  and  again. 

The  sections  of  this  book  follow  the  order  given  above  ; 
museums  are  described  in  their  topographical  surroundings. 
They  may  of  course  be  visited  at  any  time,  and  the  student 
of  ancient  sculpture  who  has  sufficient  time  at  his  disposal 
will  arrange  his  programme  in  accordance  with  his  predomi- 
nant interest  ;  but  there  are  two,  the  Museo  Kircheriano 
(p.  175)  and  the  Villa  di  Papa  Qiulio,  described  in  the 
thirteenth  section,  which  are  chiefly  instructive  to  those 
concerned  with  the  origins  of  Rome  and  its  place  in  Early 
Italy.  They  should  therefore  be  visited  early  by  those  who 
desire  to  trace  the  history  of  the  Roman  people  systemati- 
cally from  primitive  times. 

A  short  section  on  the  walls  of  Rome  is  inserted  at  the 
close  of  the  book.  Both  the  early  and  the  late  lines  of 
fortification  are  well  worthy  of  study  and  most  interesting 
to  follow  ;  but  the  traveller  need  not,  indeed  should  not, 
begin  with  an  examination  of  them. 

No  time  should  be  lost  in  making  the  ascent  of  the 
Janiculum  in  order  to  enjoy  the  view  of  Rome  described  on 


INTRODUCTORY  NOTE  xi 

p.  4,  and  gain  a  general  idea  of  the  city  and  its  surround- 
ings. Before  the  construction  of  the  railway,  travellers 
approaching  Rome  from  the  N.  by  carriage  entered  it  by  the 
Porta  S.  Pancrazio  and  at  once  saw  it  under  its  most  impres- 
sive aspect  ;  and  those  who  arrive  by  train  and  lose  this 
splendid  prospect  should  at  once  make  good  the  deficiency. 
The  view  of  Central  Rome  from  the  tower  of  the  Palazzo 
del  Senatore  (p.  5)  deserves  an  early  visit. 

Monuments  and  remains  of  antiquity  outside  the  walls 
of  Rome  are  not  described  in  this  book,  since  it  is  intended 
to  include  them  in  a  separate  volume. 


\ 


CONTENTS 


PAGE 

vii 


IX 
XV 

xvii 

XX 

I 

13 


Preface     

Introductory  Note        

Time-Table        .        . 

How  TO  Use  these  Guide-Books  .... 
Map  of  Classical  Rome.        .        .        .        . 
I.     Origins  and  Growth  of  Rome 
II.     Roman  Architecture      .... 

III.  Ancient  Sculpture  in  Roman  Collections      27 

IV.  The  Forum        .        .        .        .        . 
V.     The  Sacred  Way  and  its  Monuments 

VI.     The  Palatine   .        .        .      -  . 

VII.     The  Capitol 

VIII.     The  Imperial  Fora  .... 

IX.     The  Campus  Martius       .... 
X.    The  Eastern  Heights     .... 
XI.     The  C.^.lian  and  Aventine    . 
XII.     The  Right  Bank  of  the  Tiber     , 

XIII.  The  Villa  Di  Papa  Giulio    . 

XIV.  The  Walls  of  Rome        .... 
Index         


42 

67 

84 

100 

164 
189 
229 
268 
351 
354 
363 


LIST   OF    PLANS 


Map  of  Classical  Rome. 

The  Forum  Romanum     .... 

The  Sacred  Way  and  its  Monuments. 

The  Palatine 

MusEO  Capitolino,  ground  floor 
MusEO  Capitolino,  upper  floor    . 
Palazzo  dei  Conservatory  first  floor 
The  Fora  of  the  Emperors  . 
MusEo  delle  Terme,  ground  floor     . 
MusEO  delle  Terme,  upper  floor 
The  Vatican  Museum      .... 


PAGE 
XX 

43 

69 

87 

los 

109 

137 
153 
199 
211 
273 


TIME-TABLE 
OF   ROMAN    MUSEUMS,   Etc. 

[These  are  of  three  classes — Papal,  National,  and  Muni- 
cipal. To  the  first  belong  the  collections  in  the  Vatican  and 
Lateran  palaces  ;  to  the  second  the  two  Museums  on  the 
Capitol,  the  Antiquarium,  the  Museo  Barracco  and  some 
minor  monuments  ;  to  the  third  the  Museo  delle  Terme, 
the  Museo  Kircheriano,  the  Villa  Borghese  (now  Villa 
Umberto  Primo),  the  Villa  di  Papa  Giulio  and  the  re- 
maining monuments  and  excavations.  Free  admission 
to  these  collections  can  be  obtained  by  students  recom- 
mended by  recognised  institutions  under  certain  con- 
ditions. The  British  School  of  Archasology,  Palazzo 
Odescalchi,  the  American  School  of  Classical  Studies,  Via 
Vicenza  5,  and  the  British  and  American  Archaeological 
Society,  Via  San  Nicolo  da  Tolentino  72,  are  of  great  service 
to  students  of  antiquity]. 

In  the  followinglist  M  =  Municipal,  N  =  National,  P  =  Papal. 


Angelo,  Castle  of  S.   (N.) 

9-4,  Sundays  10-2 

I  lira  ;  Sun, 

,  free 

Antiquarium  (M.)     . 

9-5 

50  c. 

Barracco,  Museo  (M. ) 

Tues.  and  Fri.  10-2 

free.     Sun. 

free 

Borghese,  Villa  (N.) 

10-4,  Sun.  lo-i 

I  lira  * 

Capitoline  Museum  (M.)  . 

10-4,  Sun.  lo-i 

J  lira,  Sun. 

free 

Colosseum  (N.) 

9  (Sun.  10)  till  sun- 
down 

50  c. 

Columbarium  of  Pompon- 
ius  Hylas(M.) 

10  till  sundown 

25  c. 

Conservatori,   Palazzo   dei 
(M.) 

10-4,  Sun.  lo-i 

I     lira;* 
free 

Sun. 

Forum  Romanum  (N.) 

9  (Sun.  10)  till  sun- 
down 

1.  lira  ;  Sun, 

.free 

Kircherian  Museum  (N.)  . 

10-4,  Sun.  lo-i 

I  lira  ;  Sun 

free 

xvi  TIME-TABLE 

Lateran  Museum  (P.)        .     Tues.     and     Thurs.  i  lira;  Sat.  free 

10-3,  Sat.  10- 1 

Palatine  (N.)    .         .         .     9  (Sun.   10)  till  sun-  i  lira  ;  Sun.  free 

down 

Papa  Giulio,  Villa  di  (N.)     10-4,  Sun.  lo-i  i  lira  ;  Sun.  free 

Scipios,  Tombs  of  (M.)     .      10  till  sundown  25  c. 

Tabularium  (M.)       .         .     ,10-4,  Sun.  closed  i    lira* 

Terme,  Museo  delle  (N.)  .     10-4,  Sun.  lo-i  i  lira  ;  Sun.  free 

Thermae  of  Caracalla  (N.)    9  (Sun.  10)  till  sun-  i  lira  ;  Sun.  free 

down 

Vatican      Museum       and     10-3,  Sat.  lo-i  t  i  lira ;  Sat.  free 
Library   (P.) 

*  Tickets  (i  lira)  are  sold  at  the  entrance  of  the  Capitoline 
Museum,  and  admit  to  the  Palazzo  dei  Conservatori  and  Tabularium. 

t  The  Etruscan  collection  is  shown  on  Mondays  and  Thursdays. 
Egyptian  (and  Galleria  Lapidaria)  on  Tuesdays  and  Fridays,  the 
Galleria  dei  Candelabri  on  Wednesdays. 


HOW   TO    USE    THESE    GUH3E- 
BOOKS 

'V  ^HE  po?-fwns  of  this  book  i?itended  to  be  read  at 
^  leisure  at  home,  before  proceeding:;  to  explore  each 
to'ivn  or  mo?iume?it,  are  enclosed  in  brackets  \thus\  The 
portion  relating  to  each  principal  object  should  be 
quietly  ?'ead  and  digested  before  a  visit,  and  referred  to 
again  afterwards.  The  portion  to  be  read  on  the  spot 
is  made  as  brief  as  possible,  and  is  printed  i?i  large  legible 
type.,  so  as  to  be  easily  read  in  the  dim  light  of  churches, 
chapels,  and  galleries.  The  keynote  words  are  printed 
in  bold  type,  to  catch  the  eye.  Where  objects  are 
numbered,  the  nujnbers  used  are  always  those  of  the  latest 
official  catalogues. 

Baedeker's  Guides  are  so  printed  that  each  principal 
portion  can  be  detached  entire  from  the  volume.  The 
traveller  who  uses  Baedeker  is  advised  to  ca?'ry  in  his 
pocket  one  such  poj-tion,  referrifig  to  the  place  he  is  then 
visiting,  together  with  the  plan  of  the  toivn,  ivhile  carryi?ig 
this  book  i?i  his  hand.  Ihese  guides  do  not  profess  to 
supply  practical  ififormation. 

See  little  at  a  time,  and  see  it  thoroughly.  Never 
attempt  to  "^/<?"  any  place  or  any  mo7iu7ne?it.  By  follow- 
ing strictly  the  order  in  which  objects  are  ?wticed  in  this 
book,  you  will  gain  a  conception  d?//'/^^  historical  evolu- 
tion of  the  towfi  IV hi ch  you  canfiot  obtain  if  you  go  about 
looking  at  chu7-ches  afid  palaces  haphazard.  The  order  is 
ar?'anged,  not  quite  chro?iologically,  but  on  a  definite  plan, 
7vhich  greatly  facilitates  co?np?-ehension  of  the  subject. 


MAP    OF  CLASSICAL   ROME 

This  map  represents  in  a  simplified  form  the  i^rowth  of 
Rome  from  the  earliest  period^  iti  tvhich  the  Palatine  was 
fortified  as  an  isolated  height  to  the  time  of  Aurelian 
{a.d.  270-275),  when  the  avails  by  which  the  city  is  still  for 
the  most  part  enclosed  were  built.     The  limits  of  the  Septi- 

montiiim  {p.  6)  are  roughly  indicated  thus ,  and  those 

of  the  city  of  the  kiftgs,  i?icluding  the  ihnrifial  settlement 
{p.  6),  are  sho^vn  thus  x  x  x  x ,  where  they  do  not  coincide 
with  those  of  the  Septimontiicm.  The  inner  line  of  wall 
is  the  ^''Servian''''  {p.  7),  the  outer  that  of  Aurelian.  The 
principal  lines  ofroad,^  afetv  modern  streets^  and  some  of  the 
chief  landmarks  of  Imperial  Rome  {Baths,  Mausolea,  etc.) 
are  also  shown,  together  with  the  course  of  the  principal 
aqueducts  of  which  7'emains  are  to  be  seett.  Note  that  the 
Vatican  and  the  northern  half  of  the  Janiculum  lay  outside 
of  the  a?icient  city :  they  were  laid  out  as  Imperial  parks 
{see  p.  10).  The  Vatican  and  the  district  betzveen  it  and  the 
Tiber  {including  the  Mausoleum  of  Hadrian)  tvere  separately 
fortified  by  Pope  Leo  IV  {a.d.  845-857)  in  consequence  of  the 
Saracenic  invasions,  and  hence  boi'e  the  name  of  the  "  Leonine 
city!''  The  fortification  of  the  entire  city,  includi?tg  the  Vati- 
can and  Janiculum,  %ias  beguji  by  Paul  III  (1534-1550) 
according  to  the  design  of  Antonio  da  Sangallo,  but  was  not 
completed  until  the  reign  of  Urban  VIII  (1623-1644). 


ORIGINS  AND  GROWTH  OF  ROME 

IT  is  sometimes  asserted  or  implied  that  Rome  was,  from 
her  geographical  position,  inevitably  destined  to  become 
the  mistress  of  the  ancient  world.  This  is  a  strange  ex- 
aggeration. Geographical  conditions  are  no  doubt  of  great 
importance  in  moulding  the  channels  along  which  the 
course  of  history  runs  :  but  history  is  made  by  men  and 
races,  and  their  qualities  are  the  determining  factors.  It 
was  not  inevitable  that  the  earliest  civilisations  should  spring 
up  in  the  valleys  of  the  Nile  and  the  Euphrates,  rather  than 
in  that  of  the  Mississippi ;  neither  was  it  necessary  (though 
it  was  natural)  that  the  unification  of  higher  culture  should 
take  place  in  the  basin  of  the  Mediterranean.  Nor,  again, 
was  a  central  position  in  the  central  peninsula  of  that  basin 
an  indispensable  requisite  for  the  city  whose  political  power 
was  to  accomplish  this  work  of  unification.  Carthage,  for 
example,  was  equally  fitted  by  her  geographical  position  to 
carry  out  the  task.  Nevertheless  Rome,  once  occupied  by 
a  race  endowed  with  the  gift  of  ruling,  was  favourably 
placed  for  the  growth  of  her  external  influence.  Her  hills, 
once  embraced  in  a  well-contrived  chain  of  defences,  made 
her  position  one  of  great  strength,  while  leaving  room  for 
a  large  population  within  the  walls.  She  was  far  enough 
from  the  sea  to  be  secure  against  pirates,  and  was  practically 
at  the  head  of  navigation  of  the  most  considerable  water- 
way in  Central  Italy.  In  the  conquest  of  the  peninsula  her 
central  position  gave  her  an  important  strategical  advantage, 
seeing  that  there  was  no  bond  of  union  between  her  enemies 

B 


2  ORIGINS  AND   GROWTH  OF  ROME         [i. 

to' '^iSf/ 'And  Ji./$iit'3t*  v^as  the  genius  of  her  inhabitants 
— their  disci pline'd' valour^ in  war,  their  love  of  social  order 
/jrt  p^fjc^y.rjntj'ltheir  es/^ntia21y  practical  spirit  in  every  re- 
'iation'ofiiib'—wliitli' 'enabled  them  to  press  their  natural 
advantages  to  the  uttermost.  When  their  history  begins,  we 
find  them  a  primitive  people,  just  emerging  from  barbarism, 
on  the  borderland  between  two  higher  cultures,  that  of  the 
Etruscans  to  the  N,,  and  that  of  the  Greek  settlers  to  the 
S.  To  the  former  they  were  for  a  century  or  more  subject, 
and  although  they  succeeded  in  throwing  off  the  yoke  of 
the  Tarquins,  they  derived  the  externals  of  higher  civilisa- 
tion from  their  rulers.  In  art  and  architecture,  in  ritual 
and  religion,  and  in  a  host  of  other  matters,  the  traces  of 
Etruscan  influence  on  Rome  were  indelible.  Nevertheless, 
the  Romans  had  the  genius  of  progress  and  assimilation 
which  was  lacking  to  their  neighbours,  condemned  by  this 
defect  to  a  gradual  decline  from  the  state  of  pomp  and 
luxury  made  familiar  to  us  by  their  painted  tombs.  From 
the  Greeks  of  S.  Italy  Rome  had  not  to  fear  political  sub- 
jection. When  she  came  directly  into  contact  with  them, 
she  had  already  given  proof  of  the  unifying"  and  organising 
power  which  enabled  her  to  transcend  the  limits  of  the 
Greek  city-state  in  the  absorption  of  the  Latin  race  and  its 
kindred  stocks,  and  it  was  easy  to  see  that  no  limits  could 
be  set  to  the  process  of  expansion  thus  begun. 

Who  were  this  people  so  uniquely  gifted,  and  whence  did 
they  come?  From  their  language  we  can  infer  that  they 
belonged  to  the  stock  from  which  sprang  the  progressive 
races  of  civilised  Europe — Celt,  Teuton,  and  Greek — as 
well  as  the  "  Iranian  "  peoples  of  Central  Asia  and  Persia 
and  the  Hindus.  It  was  once  thought  that  the  close  like- 
ness between  the  Latin  and  Greek  languages  pointed  to  a 
time  when  these  two  peoples  lived  together  ;  but  it  is  now 
recognised  that  to  the  scientific  philologist  the  resemblances 
between  Latin  and  Celtic  are  equally  significant,  and  the 
most  that  can  be  said  is  that,  wherever  we  may  place  the 
cradle  of  the  Indo-European  or  "Aryan"  race,  those  branches 
which  pushed  their  way  westward  and  southward  must  at 


I.]         ORIGINS  AND   GROWTH  OF  ROME  3 

one  time  have  been  near  neighbours  in   Central  Europe. 
Prehistoric   archaeology  tells   us   a  good   deal   as   to   the 
successive  forms  of  culture  which  have  prevailed  in  Italy 
from  the  Old  Stone  Age  onwards  ;  but  it  is  always  hard  to 
be  sure  that  a  change  of  civilisation  implies  a  change  of 
race.      Nevertheless,   it  is  somewhat  more   than   probable 
that  the  first  "Italic"  peoples  of  Indo-European  descent, 
amongst  whom  may  have  been  the  ancestors  of  the  Romans, 
entered  Italy  from  the  N.E.  at  the  beginning  of  the  Age 
of  Bronze,  bringing  weapons  and  tools  of  the  new  metal 
from  Central  Europe. ^     They  lived  at  first  iri  pile-villages 
built  in  shallow  water  or  in  bogs,  then  on  similar  platforms, 
raised  on  dry  land  and  surrounded  by  a  moat ;  and  primi- 
tive  as  were   their   dwellings   and   manners,  they  already 
manifested  a  genius  for  order  and  for  the  subordination  of 
the   individual  to  the  community.      Some  centuries  later, 
just  as  bronze  had  displaced  stone,  so  iron  ousted  bronze  ; 
and  with  the  dawn  of  the  Early  Iron  Age  came  a  second 
wave  of  immigration  from  Central  Europe  and  a  great  shifting 
of  populations  in  Italy.    Hitherto  the  Italic  peoples  had  been 
confined  to  the  valley  of  the  Po  and  the  N.W.  slopes  of  the 
Apennines,  except  for  a  few  adventurous  settlers  who  had 
made  their  way  down  the  Adriatic  coast :  now,  learning  the 
use  of  iron,  they  hewed  their  way  across  the  Apennines, 
dispossessed  the  weaker  populations,  and  established  them- 
selves along  the  eastern  coasts  of  Italy.     There  is  a  thick 
cluster  of  their  settlements  about  the  Alban  hills,  and  we 
can  now  point  to  the  burial-place  of  some  of  the  earliest 
inhabitants  of  Rome  itself  in  the  necropolis  adjoining  the 
Forum  (p.  76).     This  "  Latin "  race  was  poorer  than  the 
Italic  stocks  of  N.  Italy,  whose  cemeteries  are  found  about 
Bologna  as  well  as  in  Tuscany,  whither  the  Etruscans  had 
not  yet  penetrated  ;  but  the  future  was  theirs.     Archaeology 
enables  us  to  trace  their  gradual  advance.     The  coming  of 

^  The  "Neolithic"  inhabitants  of  Italy  survived  in  historical 
times  in  the  N.W.  under  the  name  of  Ligurians.  Probably  they 
were  a  branch  of  the  race  which  raised  the  megalithic  monuments 
of  Europe  and  Africa  (e.g.  Stonehenge). 


4  ORIGINS  AND   GROWTH  OF  ROME         [i. 

the  Etruscans — a  people  whose  origin  and  affinities  are  still 
an  unsolved  problem — brought  many  changes  in  Central 
Italy,  particularly  the  adoption  (for  a  time)  of  interment  in 
place  of  cremation  ;  and  very  soon  Greek  manufactures 
began  to  find  their  way  to  Rome.  From  the  Greek  colonies 
came  the  art  of  writing,  as  yet  unknown  in  Italy  ;  and  with 
writing  history  begins. 

Rome  will  always  be  known  as  the  city  of  the  Seven 
Hills  ;  but  not  all  of  these  were  sharply  defined  eminences. 
The  best  general  impression  of  the  city  and  its  surroundings 
is  obtained  by  ascending  the  Janiculum  and  surveying  the 
view  either  from  the  piazza  in  front  of  S.  Pietro  in  Montorio, 
or  from  the  summit  of  the  hill,  crowned  by  the  equestrian 
statue  of  Garibaldi.  It  will  be  seen  that  the  Tiber  makes  a 
deep  furrow  through  the  undulating  plain  of  volcanic  origin 
known  as  the  Campagna.  To  the  S.  rises  the  extinct  volcano, 
which,  with  its  subsidiary  craters,  forms  the  Alban  hills, 
dotted  with  towns  of  which  the  most  conspicuous  is  Frascati, 
some  200  feet  below  the  site  of  the  ancient  Tusculum.  To 
the  E.  we  see  the  Sabine  hills,  a  limestone  formation  jutting 
out  from  the  Apennines,  whose  summits  are  visible  in  the 
background.  In  the  upper  valley  of  the  Tiber  the  isolated 
peak  of  Soracte  stands  out  clearly.  From  the  top  of  the 
Janiculum  the  view  extends  to  the  N.  as  far  as  the  line  of 
heights  which  marks  the  edge  of  the  Ciminian  forest ;  that, 
like  the  Alban  hills,  had  its  active  volcanoes  in  remote  times. 

The  action  of  the  Tiber  repeats  on  a  larger  scale  that  of 
the  numerous  streams  which  plough  the  Campagna  with 
furrows  in  the  friable  volcanic  earth,  leaving,  in  place  of  a 
uniform  tableland,  groups  of  detached  heights  and  promon- 
tories. As  the  river  approaches  the  site  of  Rome  it  makes  a 
bend  to  the  right,  skirting  the  base  of  the  western  heights. 
The  low-lying  ground,  now  thickly  covered  with  buildings 
on  the  left  bank,  is  the  Campus  Martius,  which  was  only 
gradually  included  in  the  circuit  of  the  city.  The  range  of 
hills  facing  the  Janiculum  bore  various  names.  To  the 
N.  it  was  the  Hill  of  Gardens,  and  the  name  is  still  partly 
applicable   to   it,  for   the    groves    of  the   Pincio  and   the 


I.]         ORIGINS  AND   GROWTH  OF  ROME  5 

Villa  Medici  occupy  most  of  its  area.  This  was  never 
counted  amongst  the  Seven  Hills.  Then  comes  a  long 
spur  which  juts  out  under  the  name  of  (i)  the  Quirinal, 
first  to  the  S.W.  and  afterwards  to  the  S.  from  the  table- 
land. At  the  corner  is  the  Royal  Palace,  and  near  the 
extremity  we  see  the  Torre  di  Nerone.  A  much  shorter 
spur  (2)  the  Viminal,  is  marked  by  the  huge  pile  of  the 
Ministry  of  Finance.  Next  comes  (3)  the  Esquiline,  which 
fills  a  large  space  in  the  background  of  the  panorama :  the 
Campanile  of  S.  Maria  Maggiore  stands  at  its  northern 
extremity.  All  these  hills  in  reality  form  a  single  indented 
plateau.  In  the  foreground  is  a  group  of  heights  formed 
on  the  left  bank  of  the  Tiber,  where  its  channel  narrows 
by  the  action  of  tributary  streams.     The  northernmost  is 

(4)  the  Capitoline,  marked  by  the  Campanile  of  the  Palazzo 
del  Senatore,  which  is  in  reality  a  prolongation  of  the 
Quirinal.  The  valley  which  now  separates  them,  as  will 
be  seen   later,   is  partly   at  least   artificial.     Next   we   see 

(5)  the  Palatine  with  its  cypresses  and  the  ruins  of  the 
Imperial  palaces  ;  and  somewhat  to  the  S.W.  of  it  (6)  the 
Aventine,  with  the  church  of  Santa  Sabina  and  the  new 
Benedictine  Monastery  of  St,  Anselmo.  Only  one  of  the 
seven  hills  is  hidden — (7)  the  Caelian,  a  ridge  projecting 
from  the  southern  extremity  of  the  Esquiline  and  ending  in 
a  square-topped  eminence  to  the  E.  of  the  Palatine. 
The  statues  on  the  roof  of  St.  John  Lateran,  which  tower 
above  the  cypresses  of  the  Villa  Mills,  mark  its  eastern 
extremity. 

The  panorama  just  described  gives  an  excellent  impres- 
sion of  the  city  at  the  height  of  its  development ;  but  its 
early  growth  is  best  appreciated  by  mounting  the  tower  of 
the  Palazzo  del  Senatore  (p.  150).  It  will  be  seen  how  the 
Palatine,  which,  before  the  lower  levels  were  drained,  was 
protected  on  three  sides  by  marsh  and  stream,  and  con- 
nected with  the  main  tableland  only  by  the  saddle  of  the 
Velia  (upon  which  the  Arch  of  Titus  now  stands),  was  well 
fitted  to  receive  the  first  defensible  settlement  on  the  site  of 
Rome.    That  it  was  indeed  the  original  city  was  an  accepted 


6  ORIGINS  AND   GROWTH  OF  ROME         [i. 

tradition  amongst  the  Romans,  and  there  is  no  valid  reason 
for  calling  it  in  question.  The  remains  of  the  Flavian 
Palace  (p.  94)  now  fill  the  central  depression  which  originally 
divided  the  hill  into  two  parts,  the  westernmost  being  the 
Palatine  proper,  or  "hill  of  Pales,"  the  shepherd's  god, 
while  that  nearest  to  the  Capitol  was  called  the  Cermalus. 
But  the  process  of  growth  was  not  long  in  beginning. 
Upon  the  two  spurs  thrown  out  by  the  Esquiline — the 
Cispius,  upon  which  S.  Maria  Maggiore  stands,  and  the 
Oppius,  which  lies  behind  S.  Pietro  in  Vincoli,  the  church 
which  crowns  the  western  extremity  of  the  hill  called 
Fagutal,  the  beech-grove — as  well  as  on  the  slope  of  the 
Cfelian  facing  the  Palatine,  called  Sucusa,  there  sprang  up 
villages  which  entered  into  association  with  the  inhabitants 
of  the  Palatine.  The  religious  tie  which  united  them  found 
expression  in  the  "Feast  of  the  Seven  Hills"  {Septimontium\ 
celebrated  on  December  11  even  in  Imperial  times.  The 
Seven  Hills  were  not  those  of  classical  tradition  ;  the 
names  usually  given  are  Palatine,  Cermalus,  Velia,  Cispius, 
Oppius,  Fagutal,  Sucusa,  for  which  last  we  sometimes  find 
Caslius. 

It  would  be  misleading  to  speak  of  the  Septimontium  as  a 
city  :  it  was  rather  a  cluster  of  villages,  one  of  which  had 
its  burial  -  place,  discovered  in  recent  years  in  the  low- 
lying  ground  to  the  N.  of  the  Velia.  It  is  worthy  of  note, 
however,  that  the  term  mons  was  never  applied  by  the 
Romans  to  the  heights  which  lay  outside  the  circuit  of  this 
community :  the  Viminal  and  Quirinal  were  called  colles^ 
and  the  gate  by  which  the  city  was  entered  on  this  side  was 
the  Colline  Gate.  On  these  hills  another  settlement,  said  to 
be  of  Sabine  origin,  was  formed  at  an  early  date.  Its 
burial-places  have  been  discovered  on  the  summit  of  the 
Quirinal,  which  takes  its  name  from  the  Sabine  divinity 
Quirinus.  Such  at  least  is  the  account  given  by  Varro, 
the  greatest  of  Roman  antiquarians  ;  but  the  Sabine 
affinities  of  the  settlers  on  the  Quirinal  have  been  disputed 
by  Mommsen  and  other  scholars.  In  any  case,  Rome,  in 
the  proper  sense  of  the  name,  came  into  existence  when  the 


I.]         ORIGINS  AND   GROWTH  OF  ROME  7 

Palatine  and  Quirinal  settlements  were  fused  in  a  single 
community,  which  planted  its  citadel  on  the  Capitol, 
established  its  market  in  the  Forum — which  must  have  been 
to  some  extent  drained,  probably  by  the  regulation  of  the 
stream  which  in  time  became  the  "Great  Sewer"  {Cloaca 
Maxima) — and  had  its  meeting-place  (Comitium)  under  the 
shadow  of  the  Capitol,  at  the  N.E.  extremity  of  the  Forum. 
According  to  Roman  tradition,  this  city  was  first  fortified 
by  Servius  Tullius,  to  whom  were  ascribed  the  remains  of  the 
great  wall  of  masonry  still  preserved  in  some  places.  This 
tradition  cannot,  however,  be  accepted.  The  character  of 
the  masonry,  the  measurements  of  the  blocks,  the  forms  of 
the  masons'  marks  engraved  thereon,  all  point  to  the  fourth 
century  B.C.  as  the  period  when  the  existing  wall  was  built  ; 
we  hear  of  fortifications  constructed  after  the  evacuation  of 
Rome  by  the  Gauls,  who  sacked  it  in  390  B.C.,  and  there  is 
every  reason  to  think  that  the  almost  impregnable  defences 
supplied  by  the  "  Servian "  wall  were  erected  in  order  to 
guard  against  a  recurrence  of  that  catastrophe.  That  the 
City  of  the  Kings  had  its  defences  is  very  probable  :  but 
they  certainly  did  not  enclose  the  vast  area  encircled  by  the 
walls  whose  origin  is  in  question.  On  the  Quirinal  and 
Esquiline  burial-places  have  been  discovered  beneath  or 
within  the  line  of  the  wall,  and  as  interment  within  the  city 
was  prohibited,  it  is  clear  that  in  this  region  the  later  fortifi- 
cation took  in  a  considerably  extended  area.  It  was  planned 
on  a  generous  scale.  Starting  from  the  river  at  the  point 
nearest  to  the  foot  of  the  Capitol,  it  followed  the  line  of  that 
hill  and  the  Quirinal  up  to  the  point  where  it  juts  out  from  the 
table  land.  Here  it  turned  sharply  to  the  S.E.,  and  as 
this  side  of  Rome  was  deficient  in  natural  strength,  an  em- 
bankment {agger)  and  fosse  were  constructed,  nearly  a 
mile  long.  Hence  the  wall  ran  down  into  the  depression 
which  separates  the  Esquiline  from  the  Caslian,  climbed  the 
latter  hill  and  skirted  its  southern  slope,  then  crossing 
another  narrow  valley  embraced  not  only  the  Aventine 
proper,  but  also  the  height  to  the  S.E.  known  as  the 
Lesser  Aventine  (upon  which  the  church  of  S.  Saba  stands). 


8  ORIGINS  AND   GROWTH  OF  ROME         [i. 

and  finally  reached  the  river  at  a  point  nearly  two  hundred 
yards  below  that  from  which  it  started.  The  system  of 
defence  was  completed  by  a  fort  on  the  Janiculum  :  and  the 
ancient  "bridge  of  piles"  {pons  sublicius\  which  tradition 
ascribed  to  Ancus  Martius,  gave  the  only  access  to  the  right 
bank  of  the  Tiber.  This  bridge,  in  accordance  with  an 
inviolable  tradition,  was  built  solely  of  wood,  and  hence  all 
trace  of  it  has  disappeared  ;  but  it  must  have  stood  some- 
where near  the  modern  Ponte  Palatino.^  The  "  Servian  " 
fortification  was  admirably  planned  for  defensive  purposes, 
and  no  doubt  included  a  considerable  area  (especially  on  the 
W.)  which  was  but  sparsely  inhabited.  The  Forum  was 
the  centre  of  the  city's  life,  and  the  valleys  adjoining  it, 
especially  the  Subura  (corresponding  nearly  with  the  lower 
part  of  the  Via  Cavour)  and  the  Velabrum,  between  the 
Palatine  and  Capitol,  were  crowded  quarters.  The  cattle- 
market  or  Forum  Boarium  (Piazza  Bocca  di  Verita)  was  by 
the  river-side,  and  the  vegetable-market  or  Forum  Holitorium 
(Piazza  Montanara  and  its  neighbourhood)  was  without  the 
river-gate  on  the  edge  of  the  Campus  Martius.  The  Field 
of  Mars  itself,  however,  now  the  most  densely  populated 
region  in  Rome,  was  as  yet  unoccupied,  save  by  temples  and 
public  buildings,  the  earliest  of  which  was  the  temple  of 
Apollo  founded  in  431  B.C.,  whose  remains  are  near  to  the 
church  of  S.  Maria  in  Campitelli.  The  dwellings  of  the 
rich  were  to  be  found  on  the  Palatine,  the  Velia,  and  the 
crest  of  the  Oppius  facing  the  Palatine  which  was  called 
the  Carinie  or  "keels,"  where  S.  Pietro  in  Vincoli  now 
stands.  The  Aventine  is  declared  by  tradition  to  have 
been  parcelled  out  amongst  the  piebs  in  456  B.C.,  and  it 
remained  throughout  Republican  history  their  stronghold  ; 
doubtless  it  was  also  inhabited  by  the  mercantile  class, 
whose  business  was  in  the  docks  and  warehouses  by  the 
river-side   in   the   modern    "Testaccio"    quarter.      It   wAs 

^  The  "  Ponte  Rotto,"  or  "  broken  bridge,"  as  the  remains  just 
above  the  Ponte  Palatino  are  called,  is  all  that  is  left  of  the  Pons 
yEmilius,  the  first  stone  bridge  built  in  Rome  in  the  second 
century  B.C. 


I.]         ORIGINS  AND   GROWTH  OF  ROME  9 

excluded  from  the  sacred  jprecinct  of  the  pomerium  until  the 
time  of  Sulla. 

It  is  hard  for  us  to  picture  to  ourselves  the  Early  Rome  of 
which  so  little  remains  except  the  foundations  of  temples, 
beginning  with  that  of  Jupiter  the  Best  and  Greatest  and 
his  associates,  Juno  and  Minerva,  which  dates  from  the 
establishment  of  the  Republic  (p.  100).  We  can  form  a 
somewhat  better  idea  of  the  new  Rome  which  came  into 
being  in  the  second  century  B.C.  when  Carthage  and  the 
Hellenistic  monarchies  of  Macedon  and  Syria  had  been 
humbled  by  the  mistress  of  Italy.  Little  indeed  survives 
to  recall  the  Rome  of  the  Gracchi  :  temples,  porticoes  and 
colonnades  have  either  been  destroyed  or  restored  in  the 
style  of  the  Empire ;  but  those  who  are  familiar  with 
Pompeii  may  form  some  idea  from  the  buildings  of  the 
"  Tufa  period  "  in  that  town  of  the  style  of  architecture  and 
decoration  which  prevailed  in  second-century  Rome.  The 
Romans,  however,  were  beginning  to  learn  the  use  of 
travertine  (see  below,  p.  14),  the  most  characteristic  of 
their  building  materials,  which  was  hardly  used  at  all  by 
the  Pompeians.  Some  account  of  the  transformation  as  it 
affected  the  Forum  and  its  surroundings  will  be  found 
on  p.  42, 

The  finest  surviving  monument  of  Republican  architecture 
is  the  Tabularium  which  dominates  the  northern  end  of  the 
Forum  (p.  47)  ;  this,  however,  belongs  to  the  century  of 
Civil  war,  during  which  little  was  done  to  beautify  the  city. 
The  grandiose  schemes  of  Caesar  (who  is  said  to  have 
planned  a  great  extension  of  the  city  boundaries  by  the 
alteration  of  the  channel  of  the  Tiber  so  as  to  embrace  the 
modern  Prati  di  Castello)  were  never  completely  carried  out ; 
but  Augustus  gave  effect  to  many  of  his  ideas.  For  ex- 
ample, the  changed  aspect  of  the  Forum  Romanum,  with  its 
new  orientation,  was  due  to  the  dictator  ;  his  own  Forum, 
with  its  temple  of  Venus  Genetrix,  was  the  first  of  the  group 
of  monumental  piazzas  raised  by  the  Emperors  in  the  centre 
of  the  city.  The  Campus  Martius,  too,  upon  which  import- 
ant public  buildings  such  as  the  Flaminian  Circus  and  the 


lo         ORIGINS  AND   GROWTH  OF  ROME         [i. 

Portico  of  Metellus  Macedonicus  (146  B.C.)  with  its  gallery 
of  painting  and  sculpture  had  sprung  up  in  Republican 
times,  received  an  added  splendour  at  the  hands  of  Augustus 
and  his  colleague  Agrippa.  JuHus  Cccsar  had  determined  to 
transfer  the  meetings  of  the  assembly  of  the  people  from 
the  Comitium  to  the  Field  of  Mars,  and  though  the  Comitia 
ceased  to  be  of  any  political  importance  under  the  Empire, 
the  polling-booths  {Scepta)  which  he  had  planned  beside  the 
"  Broad  Street "  (via  Lata,  now  the  Corso)  were  set  up  on  a 
magnificent  scale  by  Agrippa,  who  also  gave  to  Rome  the 
first  of  its  People's  Palaces  under  the  name  of  Thermae  or 
Baths,  fed  by  the  newly-built  Aqua  Virgo  (p.  182).  Close  to 
these  was  the  Pantheon,  or  "all  holy"  temple  of  the 
divinities  which  protected  the  JuHan  house,  now  represented 
by  Hadrian's  rotunda.  The  theatres  of  Balbus  and 
Marcellus  (p.  166  f.),  the  Altar  of  Peace  (p.  184),  and  the 
Mausoleum  built  by  Augustus  for  himself  and  his  house 
(p.  185),  were  amongst  the  other  buildings  set  up  in  the 
Campus  Martins  under  the  first  of  the  Emperors.  Now, 
too,  the  ring  of  parks  by  which  the  populous  quarters  of  the 
city  were  encircled,  was  laid  out  and  beautified.  Some  were 
already  in  the  possession  of  the  Imperial  family,  such  as  the 
"grove  of  the  Caesars"  in  the  Trastevere  :  others  were  the 
property  of  great  commoners,  such  as  the  "  Gardens  of 
Maecenas"  on  the  Esquiline,  laid  out  upon  the  site  of  one 
of  the  plague-spots  of  ancient  Rome,  the  "puticuli"  or 
trenches  outside  the  Servian  eiiceiitte  in  which  the  bodies  of 
the  pauper  and  the  slave  were  cast  pell-mell,  or  the  "gardens 
of  Sallust "  in  the  modern  "  Ludovisi  quarter,"  on  the  slopes 
of  the  Quirinal  and  Pincian  and  in  the  valley  between  those 
hills,  in  which  some  of  the  most  famous  remains  of  ancient 
sculpture  have  been  brought  to  light.  The  former  were 
bequeathed  to  Augustus  by  his  trusted  adviser  :  the  latter 
became  the  property  of  Tiberius  ;  and  one  by  one  the 
remainder,  with  scarcely  an  exception,  passed  into  Imperial 
hands. 

Augustus    did   much    for    the    municipal    administration 
of  Rome,  dividing  the  city  into  fourteen  wards  and  creating 


I.J         ORIGINS  AND   GROWTH  OF  ROME         ii 

a  police  force  and  fire  brigade.  But  the  influx  of  population 
from  all  parts  of  the  newly-founded  Empire  led  to  all  the 
evils  of  jerry-building  and  overcrowding  with  which  modern 
cities  are  so  painfully  familiar.  It  is  sometimes  said  that  the 
Great  Fire  of  Nero  (a.d.  64)  led  to  a  clearance  of  the  slums  ; 
it  is  even  hinted  that  Nero  brought  it  about  with  that  end  in 
view  ;  but  the  first  of  these  propositions  is  unprovable,  and 
the  second  improbable.  We  read  in  Tacitus  of  measures 
enacted  in  order  to  prevent  the  recurrence  of  such  a 
*  calamity^  :  but  the  third  satire  of  Juvenal  (familiar  to  most 
Englishmen  through  the  free  imitation  in  Dr.  Johnson's 
Lo?idon)  shows  that  the  old  evils  soon  sprang  into  fresh  life. 
In  one  quarter,  however,  the  fire  wrought  a  great  change — 
on  the  western  slopes  of  the  Esquiline  and  in  the  adjoining 
valleys.  Nero  took  advantage  of  the  destruction  of  these 
quarters  to  build  his  Golden  House  on  the  vacant  site.  This 
was  not  a  single  palace,  but  an  immense  park,  with  lakes 
and  woods,  containing  a  number  of  residences  ;  and  Nero's 
action  in  thus  appropriating  to  himself  so  vast  an  area 
enabled  later  emperors  to  turn  the  site  to  public  uses.  Thus 
the  Colosseum  was  built  on  the  site  of  one  of  its  lakes  ;  the 
Baths  of  Titus  were  close  to  the  main  palace,  and  those 
afterwards  built  in  their  immediate  neighbourhood  by  Trajan 
were  actually  based  upon  some  of  its  richly  decorated 
chambers,  which  were  turned  into  foundations.  Much  of  the 
rebuilding  was  the  work  of  the  Flavian  emperors,  who 
enlarged  the  ideal  boundary  of  \hep0menu7n  and  claimed 
the  New  Rome  as  their  foundation. 

To  Trajan  Rome  owed  the  most  magnificent  of  the 
Imperial  Fora  (p.  155),  while  Hadrian  is  represented  at  the 
present  day  by  two  of  the  most  characteristic  monuments 
of  Rome — the  Pantheon  and  the  Mausoleum,  which  is  now 
the  Castle  of  St.  Angelo.  The  Column  of  M.  Aurelius  is 
the  most  conspicuous  monument  of  the  Antonine  dynasty, 
while  that  of  the  Severi  which  followed  left  its  mark  on  the 

^  e.g.  Streets  were  widened,  the  height  of  houses  limited,  and 
the  lower  parts  of  houses  were  built  oi peperino  only. 


12         ORIGINS  AND  GROWTH  OF  ROME         [i. 

greater  part  of  the  buildings  of  the  Early  Empire,  which 
were  restored  and  embellished  with  a  profusion  of  costly 
materials.  The  Baths  of  Caracalla  typify  the  colossal 
constructions  with  which  the  later  rulers  of  Rome  sought  to 
outdo  their  predecessors. 

In  the  years  of  turmoil  which  followed  the  extinction  of  the 
dynasty  of  Septimius  Severus  the  emperors  had  neither  the 
means  nor  the  leisure  to  add  to  the  glories  of  their  city  ; 
the  population,  moreover,  which  had  perhaps  reached  one 
million  in  the  first  century,  had  declined  from  the  days 
of  M.  Aurelius  onwards.  When  in  a.d.  271  Aurelian  was 
forced  by  the  imminent  peril  of  barbarian  invasion  to  fortify 
Rome,  the  walls  no  longer  embraced  the  whole  of  Augustus' 
city.  Once  again — and  for  the  last  time— there  was  an 
outburst  of  building  activity.  The  founders  of  absolute 
monarchy — Diocletian  and  Constantine — though  they  spent 
but  little  time  in  their  capital,  gave  to  it  the  crowning 
examples  of  giant  architecture — the  Baths  on  the  Quirinal 
and  the  New  Basilica  on  the  Sacred  Way.  But  the  first 
Christian  Emperor  transferred  the  seat  of  his  government  to 
the  Bosphorus.  The  Eternal  City  entered  upon  a  new 
phase  of  its  existence,  and  gradually  put  on  a  new  dress  as 
the  capital  of  a  spiritual  Empire.  Henceforth  its  story 
is  that  of  Christian  Rome. 


11 

ROMAN   ARCHITECTURE 

A.  Materials 

FOR  the  understanding  of  the  architectural  remains  of 
ancient  Rome  some  knowledge  of  their  materials  is 
necessary.  In  early  times  the  volcanic  rock  of  which 
the  hills  were  formed  was  quarried  on  the  spot.  This  tufa, 
as  it  is  called,  consists  of  volcanic  scorias,  which  in  some 
places  are  so  loose  that  they  can  be  dug  with  a  spade, 
while  in  others  they  have  been  bound  by  pressure  into  a 
soft,  friable  stone  varying  in  colour  from  greenish-yellow  (in 
which  form  it  is  called  cappellaccio)  to  deep  brown.  The 
walls  of  the  Palatine,  the  Servian  wall,  and  the  podia  of  the 
early  temples  such  as  that  of  Jupiter  Capitolinus,  Saturn, 
and  the  Castores,  are  built  of  this  material,  which  weathers 
badly  unless  protected  by  a  coating  of  stucco.  Under  the 
early  Republic  no  other  stone  was  used  by  Roman  builders, 
but  more  durable  materials  came  into  use  in  the  third  and 
succeeding  centuries  B.C.  Two  varieties  of  a  hard  stone 
formed  by  the  action  of  hot  water  upon  a  conglomerate  of 
volcanic  ashes  and  sand  were  found  in  the  neighbourhood 
of  Rome,  one^  near  Gabii,  hence  known  to  the  Romans  as 
lapis  Gabinus^  now  called  sperone,  the  other  in  the  Alban 
hills,  called  in  ancient  times  lapis  Albanus  and  at  the 
present  day  peperino,  from  the  scoriae  like  peppercorns 
with  which  it  is  dotted.  Both  varieties  may  be  observed  in 
the  outer  wall  of  the  Forum  of  Augustus  (p.  1 54) :  sperone 
is  the  material  used  in  the  facade  of  the  Tabularium 
(p.  47).     But  the  most  characteristic  of    Roman  building 


14  ROMAN  ARCHITECTURE  [li. 

materials  is  travertine,  which  was  not  in  common  use 
before  the  latter  part  of  the  second  century  B.C.,  and  was 
for  a  long  while  employed  but  sparingly  either  for  such 
architectural  members  as  were  subject  to  special  stress 
or  for  ornamental  details.  Thus  the  voussoirs  of  the  Arco 
de'  Pantani  (p.  154),  by  which  the  Forum  of  Augustus  is 
entered,  are  of  travertine,  whilst  the  remainder  of  the  arch 
and  the  surrounding  walls  are  of  peperino ;  again,  in  the 
so-called  Temple  of  Fortuna  Virilis  (p.  265)  the  angle 
columns,  as  well  as  the  remaining  capitals,  the  entablature 
and  some  other  members  are  of  travertine,  whereas  the 
temple  as  a  whole  is  built  of  tufa.  Travertine,  which 
derives  its  name  from  that  of  lapis  Tiburtinus  applied  to 
it  by  the  Romans  because  it  was  quarried  in  the  neighbour- 
hood of  Tibur  (Tivoli),  is  a  creamy-white  limestone  found 
in  the  Sabine  hills.  It  is  an  almost  pure  carbonate  of 
lime  deposited  in  running  water,  laminated  in  structure  and 
full  of  small  cavities  and  fissures.  It  acquires  a  mellow 
golden  tint  when  exposed  to  weather,  and  is  no  mean 
substitute  for  the  marbles  of  Greece.  The  great  monuments 
of  the  Empire,  such  as  the  Colosseum,  afford  conspicuous 
examples  of  its  use. 

Rome  furnishes  no  examples  of  "  Cyclopean "  or 
"  Polygonal "  masonry,  formed  with  blocks  of  irregular 
shape  ;  even  the  earliest  specimens  of  walling,  such  as  the 
retaining  wall  of  the  Comitium  (p.  53)  show  almost  regular 
horizontal  courses,  and  classical  examples  of  opus  quadratum^ 
as  the  Romans  galled  their  coursed  masonry  (e.g.  the 
"Servian"  walls  and  the  facade  of  the  Tabularium),  show 
a  regular  arrangement  of  standard  blocks,  four  feet  in 
length  and  two  feet  square  in  section,  laid  in  alternate 
courses  of  "  headers  "  and  "  stretchers,"  so  that  two  of  the 
former  range  with  one  of  the  latter.  This  practice,  however, 
did  not  survive  the  introduction  of  travertine  as  a  building 
material ;  this  was  not  so  easily  worked  as  tufa,  and  to 
avoid  waste  was  cut  into  blocks  of  varying  size,  so  that 
courses  of  uniform  height  and  regular  jointing  are  not 
usually   found.      Sometimes,   however,    an    appearance   of 


II.]  ROMAN  ARCHITECTURE  15 

regularity  was  given  by  the  use  of  false  joints,  e.g.  in  the 
tomb  of  Caecilia  Metella  on  the  Appian  way. 

The  Romans,  like  the  Greeks,  generally  laid  their  masonry 
dry,  i.e.  without  mortar  ;  the  blocks  were  made  to  fit  ac- 
curately, and  in  Greece,  though  not  very  commonly  in 
Rome  (except  under  the  Empire)  were  further  secured  by 
clamps  and  dowels.  A  thin  bed  of  lime  is  sometimes  found 
between  the  joints  in  early  buildings  ;  but  mortar  in  the 
proper  sense  was  not  used  in  Greece  or  Italy  until  the  third 
century  B.C.  It  was  soon  discovered  that  by  mixing  lime 
with  a  chocolate-coloured  volcanic  earth,  called  by  the 
Romans  pulvis  Ptiteolanus  because  it  was  quarried  in  large 
quantities  around  Puteoli  (Pozzuoli,  near  Naples)  and  known 
in  modern  times  as  pozzolana,  an  immensely  powerful 
cement  could  be  formed.  This  concrete  was  used  by  the 
Romans  from  the  beginning  of  the  first  century  B.C.,  or 
earlier,  as  their  principal  building  material.  Without  it  they 
could  never  have  raised  the  great  domes  and  vaulted  halls 
such  as  the  Pantheon  and  the  Basilica  of  Constantine, 
which  are  the  triumphs  of  their  architectural  style.  Rigid 
as  a  rock,  and  yet  comparatively  light,  it  could  be  used 
to  form  cupolas  and  vaults  of  great  span  without  exerting 
the  powerful  lateral  thrust  of  a  stone  arch,  since  it  rested 
on  the  supporting  walls  almost  like  a  metal  lid.  In  the 
Basilica  of  Constantine  (p.  78)  may  be  seen  huge 
fragments  of  such  vaults  projecting  from  the  side  walls 
without  support  except  from  the  cohesiveness  of  the 
material.  In  laying  foundations  and  substructures  the 
concrete  was  poured  in  a  semi-fluid  state  into  a  framework 
of  timber  and  thus  cast.  Into  the  fluid  cement  were  thrown 
fragments  of  stone,  etc.,  which  are  seen  scattered  through 
the  mass  like  raisins  in  a  plum-cake.  The  date  at  which 
such  structures  were  raised  can  often  be  inferred  from  the 
nature  of  the  materials  used  for  filling.  In  early  times 
lumps  of  tufa  only  were  used  :  later  we  find  peperino  and 
lava,  and  in  Imperial  times  brick,  travertine,  and  even 
marble.  The  timber  framework  was  generally  removed 
when  the   concrete  had   set  ;    but  the  prints   left  by   the 


i6  ROMAN  ARCHITECTURE  [ii. 

boarding  may  clearly  be  seen  in  the  face  of  the  concrete, 
as  for  instance  in  the  foundations  of  the  Flavian  palace 
on  the  Palatine  (p.  95).  The  framework  was  sometimes 
left  in  its  place,  and  we  can  now  and  then  see  the 
carbonised  remains  of  the  boarding,  e.g.  in  the  founda- 
tion of  the  equestrian  statue  of  Domitian  in  the  Forum 
(p.  60). 

Except  in  foundations,  concrete  was  scarcely  ever  left 
without  facing  ;  of  this  several  kinds  are  distinguished,  and 
serve  to  date  roughly  the  buildings  in  which  they  are  found. 
In  the  last  century  of  the  Republic  the  face  of  the  concrete 
was  studded  with  irregular  lumps  of  tufa  of  pyramidal  form, 
presenting  the  appearance  of  a  wall  built  with  small  stones. 
A  good  example  may  be  seen  in  the  arcades  at  the  N. 
end  of  the  Forum  called  the  "  Rostra  of  Caesar."  This  was 
called  opus  incertum.  It  was  gradually  superseded  by  opus 
reticulatum  ("  net- work  "))  in  which  the  blocks  were  cut  to  a 
regular  pyramidal  shape  and  laid  corner  to  corner  in 
a  lozenge  pattern.  This  was  very  common  under  the  Early 
Empire  :  a  good  example  of  the  Augustan  period  may  be 
seen  in  the  "  House  of  Livia"  on  the  Palatine  (p.  91).  For 
the  arches  and  angles  of  walls  thus  constructed  tufa  voussoirs 
and  quoins  were  used  until  about  the  close  of  the  reign  of 
Augustus,  when  it  became  the  custom  to  use  brick  for  these 
purposes  ;  and  in  time  it  became  usual  to  face  the  wall  itself 
with  triangular  bricks  or  fragments  of  roof-tiles  {testcB\  the 
pointed  ends  of  which  tailed  into  the  concrete.  This  opus 
testaceum  was  used  in  conjunction  with  panels  of  opus  reticu- 
latum up  to  Hadrian's  time— excellent  examples  may  be 
seen  in  his  Villa  at  Tivoli— but  under  the  later  emperors 
brick  facing  alone  was  in  use.  The  thickness  of  the  bricks 
and  thinness  of  the  beds  of  cement  furnish  an  index  to  the 
date  of  Imperial  buildings.  Under  Nero  and  the  Flavian 
emperors  the  thickness  of  the  bricks  is  from  three  to  four 
times  as  great  as  that  of  the  mortar-joints  ;  but  as  time  went 
on  the  joints  grew  thicker  and  the  bricks  somewhat  thinner. 
In  the  walls  of  Aurelian  bricks  and  joints  are  about  equal  in 
thickness.     Towards  the  close  of  the  third  century  courses 


II.]  ROMAN  ARCHITECTURE  17 

of  small  tufa  blocks  were  used  in  alternation  with  bricks. 
This  has  been  called  opus  mixtum. 

Even  the  facings  which  have  just  been  described  were 
not  allowed  to  remain  visible  except  in  rare  instances,  such 
as  the  brick  arches  of  the  extension  of  the  Claudian  aqueduct 
built  by  Nero  on  the  Ccelian  (p.  242),  Walls  were  usually 
covered  with  stucco  {tectoriuvi)^  and  when  this  was  to  receive 
painted  decoration  several  coats  of  fine  marble  cement  were 
used.  The  walls  of  public  buildings,  however,  were  often 
faced  with  slabs  of  coloured  marble,  to  obtain  which  every 
province  of  the  Empire  was  ransacked.  Few  such  walls 
have  been  allowed  to  retain  their  ancient  decoration,  for 
vast  quantities  of  marble  found  their  way  into  mediaeval 
lime-kilns,  and  what  the  lime-burners  left  was  largely  used 
by  the  builders  of  modern  times  for  the  adornment  of 
churches  :  a  good  example  may  be  seen  in  the  Barracks  of 
the  Seventh  Cohort  of  Vigiles  (p.  270). 

The  well-known  boast  of  Augustus  that  he  "  found  Rome 
brick  and  left  it  marble  "  must  be  understood  in  the  sense 
that  the  importation  of  marble  on  a  large  scale  for  use  in 
wall-decpration  began  in  his  time  ;  for  except  in  this  form 
marble  was  rarely  used  by  the  Romans  for  building  pur- 
poses. Almost  the  only  structure  built  of  solid  marble  in 
Rome  was  the  Regia,  as  restored  in  36  B.C.  (p.  74).  The 
varieties  of  marble  found  in  Roman  buildings  are  of  great 
number  :  a  collection  of  more  than  one  thousand  specimens 
made  by  Pietro  Corsi  was  sold  to  the  University  of  Oxford  in 
1827,  and  is  there  preserved.  There  is  a  collection  of  some 
six  hundred  specimens  in  the  University  of  the  Sapienza  at 
Rome.  The  traveller  will  find  much  useful  information  on 
this  subject  in  the  Rev.  H.  W.  Pullen's  Handbook  of  Ancient 
Roman  Marbles  which  contains  a  list  of  Roman  buildings 
with  the  specimens  found  therein.^  Only  a  few  of  the  kinds 
more  commonly  met  with  can  be  mentioned  here  :  it  may 

^  Mr.  Brindley  (chairman  of  ^'Majynor,  Limited")  has  corrected 
many  erroneous  views  as  to  ihe  provenance  of  ancient  marbles  :  see 
his  article  in  \.\ie  Journal  of  the  Royal  Institute  of  British  Archi' 
tects,  1893. 


i8  ROMAN  ARCHITECTURE  [ii. 

be  premised  that  the  term  "  marble "  is  used  in  its  wider 
acceptation,  and  not  confined  to  calcareous  rocks  which 
have  undergone  crystallisation. 

A,  White  (statuary)  and  grey  marbles.  Original  Greek 
statues  are  generally  made  of  Pentelic,  or  (not  so  commonly) 
of  Parian  marble  ;  the  latter  may  be  distinguished  by  its 
coarser  grain  and  larger  crystals.  The  great  majority  of 
Roman  copies  (which  form  the  bulk  of  the  statues  in  the 
museums  of  Rome)  are  of  Luna  marble  quarried  at  Carrara, 
of  a  pure  ivory-white  and  smooth  texture. 

The  marble  of  Mount  Hymettus  in  Attica,  veined  with 
bluish  grey,  and  the  grey  marble  known  as  bigio  antico, 
were  much  used  for  columns.  Those  of  S.  Maria  Maggiore 
and  S.  Pietro  in  Vincoli  are  examples  of  the  former  ;  some 
of  those  in  S.  Martino  ai  Monti  are  of  the  latter  material. 

[The  name  bigio  morato  is  given  to  a  very  different 
marble,  black  with  white  veins,  of  which  the  Centaurs  in 
the  Salone  of  the  Museo  Capitolino  are  made.] 

B.  Coloured  marbles.  The  commonest  of  these  are  the 
following  : —  , 

{(I)  Qiallo  Antico,  the  "  Numidian  marble"  of  the 
ancients,  quarried  in  N.  Africa.  Pale  yellow  with 
deeper  flushes,  veined  with  orange  and  pink. 

{b)  Pavonazzetto,  the  "  Phrygian  marble  "  of  antiquity, 
dark  purple  in  grain  with  veins  of  white. 

These  two  marbles,  together  with  green  serpen- 
tine, are  commonly  found  in  pavements,  e.g.  in  the 
Triclinium  of  the  Flavian  palace  on  the  Palatine 
(p.  95)  and  the  Atrium  Vestas  (p.  73). 

{c)  Porta  santa  (so  called  because  the  "  Holy  Doors  " 
of  the  great  basilicas  have  jambs  of  this  marble), 
found  in  various  shades  of  pink  or  flesh  colour 
with  irregular  markings  in  white  and  red,  is 
generally  identified  with  the  "  Marble  of  lasus  "  of 
the  ancients.  But  ancient  quarries  of  it  have  been 
found  in  the   island  of  Chios,  and  it  may  be  the 


II.]  ROMAN  ARCHITECTURE  19 

ancient  "  Chian  marble."  Its  varieties  may  be 
studied  in  the  fountain  of  the  Piazza  Colonna.  The 
facing  of  the  hemicycle  behind  the  rostra  (p.  57) 
is  of  this  marble. 

{d)  Cipollino  ("  onion-stone,"  so  called  from  its  layers 
of  white  and  pale*  green  which  flake  off  like  the 
rinds  of  an  onion),  the  ancient  "  marble  of  Carystus  " 
in  Euboea.  The  most  familiar  example  is  furnished 
by  the  columns  of  the  Temple  of  Antoninus  and 
Faustina  (p.  76). 

{e)  Rosso  antico,  a  deep  red  marble,  sometimes  used 
in  Imperial  times  for  statues,  such  as  the  Dancing 
Faun  of  the  Capitol  (p.  1 26),  and 

(/)  Nero  antico,  a  black  marble,  generally  with  white 
veins,  probably  to  be  identified  with  the  ancient 
"marble  of  Tienarus,"  were  both  quarried  in 
Laconia. 

(ry)  Fior  di  persico  ("peach-blossom")  is  sometimes 
supposed  to  have  been  the  "  Molossian  marble  "  of 
the  ancients,  found  in  Epirus,  but  it  seems  to  have 
been  quarried  in  the  island  of  Elba.  It  is  a  highly 
variegated  marble  with  markings  of  red,  white, 
peach-blossom,  lilac,  etc.  Two  columns  of  it  may 
be  seen  in  the  courtyard  of  the  Palazzo  dei  Con- 
servatori. 

C.  Conglomerates  or  "  pudding-stones  "  ("  breccia  ").  The 
term  covers  an  immense  variety  of  rocks,  composed  of  all 
kinds  of  materials  cemented  together  under  pressure. 

{a)  Affricano,  which  owes  its  name  to  the  presence  of 
black  amongst  its  markings,  the  prevailing  tone 
of  which  is  pink  or  red  (not  unlike  that  oi  porta 
santa\  often  with  a  tinge  of  green,  was  quarried  in 
the  ^^gean,  perhaps  in  Chios.  A  number  of  frag- 
mentary columns  may  be  seen  in  the  Basilica 
Emilia  (p.  63). 


20  ROMAN  ARCHITECTURE  [ii. 

{b)  Breccia  verde,  found  in  Egypt,  with  fragments 
of  granite,  porphyry,  etc.,  in  a  green  paste.  A 
fragment  of  a  column  may  be  seen  in  the  Palazzo 
dei  Conservatori. 

{c)  Breccia  corallina,  coral -red  with  fragments  of 
pink.  Two  columns  of  a  yellowish  variety  stand 
in  the  Cortile  del  Belvedere. 

{d)  Breccia  di  Settebasi,  which  takes  its  name  from  the 
remains  of  an  ancient  villa  at  "  Roma  Vecchia  "  on 
the  Latin  Way,  owned  in  ancient  times  by  Septimius 
Bassus,  varies  from  grey  to  blue  with  oblong  mark- 
ings of  several  colours.  A  column  in  the  fountain 
of  the  Piazza  dell'  Esedra  is  of  a  greenish  variety. 

{e)  Breccia  di  Quintiliolo,  named  from  the  Villa  of 
the  Quintilii  on  the  Appian  Way,  and  found  in 
small  quantities  in  Hadrian's  Villa,  the  rarest  and 
most  highly  prized  of  the  breccias,  may  be  distin- 
guished by  its  golden,  green,  and  tortoise-shell 
markings  on  an  almost  black  ground. 

D.  Volcanic  rocks. 

{ti)  Granite,  both  red  and  grey,  was  imported  from 
Egypt.  The  columns  of  the  Temple  of  Saturn 
(p.  49)  and  the  Portico  of  the  Pantheon  (p.  173) 
furnish  examples. 
'{b)  Porphyry,  also  quarried  in  Egypt.  The  red  variety 
is  the  most  prized,  and  was  used  for  sculptures,  e.g. 
the  "Sarcophagi  of  Constantine  and  Helena"  in  the 
Vatican  (p.  272),  and  a  fragment  of  a  colossal 
statue  in  the  Atrio  of  the  Museo  CapitoHno. 
Green  porphyry,  often  (but  wrongly)  called  Ser- 
pentine, is  very  common  in  pavements  (see  above). 

(^)  Basalt,  a  very  dark  green  rock,  was  used  for 
statuary  under  the  Empire.  The  boy  Hercules  of 
the  Museo  Capitolino  (p.  121)  and  a  statue  of  a 
youthful  athlete  in  the  Museo  delle  Terme  are 
examples. 


II.]  .  ROMAN  ARCHITECTURE  21 

{d)  Verde  antico,  a  true  "  serpentine  "—so  called 
from  its  dull  green  colour  resembling  a  serpent's 
skin — is  thought  to  have  been  the  Lapis  atracius 
of  the  ancients,  quarried  in  Thessaly,  but  is  not 
now  found  there.  There  are  two  columns  in  the 
Palazzo  dei  Conservatori,  and  a  fine  slab  in  the  Sala 
degli  Animali  of  the  Vatican.  The  Palazzo  dei 
Conservatori  also  has  the  figure  of  a  dog  sculptured 
in  a  variety  named  Verde  ranocchia  from  its  frog- 
like markings. 

E.  Alabaster.  By  this  is  meant,  not  the  crystalline 
variety  of  gypsum  to  which  that  name  is  now  applied,  but 
a  crystallised  deposit  of  carbonate  of  lime  formed  by  the 
filtration  of  water  in  stalactitic  caves.  The  finest  oriental 
alabaster  known  to  the  ancients  was  found  in  Egypt ;  it  was 
also  quarried  in  North  Africa  (near  Tlemsen). 

B.— Principles  of  Construction  and  Decoration 

There  is  an  essential  difference  between  Greek  and  Roman 
architecture.  The  Greeks,  whether  they  used  marble,  stone, 
or  wood,  gave  stability  to  their  buildings  by  the  direct  sup- 
port of  the  horizontal  members  on  columns  or  piers  strong 
enough  to  bear  the  weight.  Thus  in  a  Greek  doorway  we 
do  not  find  an  arch,  but  a  lintel ;  in  a  Greek  roof  we  do 
not  see  a  vault  or  dome,  but  an  imitation  in  marble  of 
joists  and  beams.  This  is  the  simplest  possible  system  of 
construction,  and  the  beauty  of  Greek  architecture — which 
achieved  perfection  within  its  self-imposed  limits — is  due  (i) 
to  the  nicely  calculated  scheme  of  proportions  which 
governed  the  dimensions  of  the  several  members  ;  (ii)  to 
the  harmony  between  decoration  and  structural  function 
—e.g.  the  absence  of  ornament  (except  simple  flutings, 
which  emphasise  the  vertical  lines)  on  supporting  members, 
such  as  the  column,  and  the  restriction  of  sculptured  decora- 
tion to  spaces  such  as  the  pediment  which  were  free  from 
strain.  In  these  respects  the  Greek  temple  may  be  said 
to  exhaust  the  possibilities  of  rectilinear  architecture. 


22  ROMAN  ARCHITECTURE  [ii. 

When  we  turn  to  the  monuments  of  Rome^vve  notice  that 
the  most  characteristic  are  not  the  temples — which  to  the 
untrained  eye  seem  to  differ  but  Httle  from  those  of  the 
Greeks — but  buildings  of  a  new  type,  such  as  the  Tabu= 
larium,  the  Colosseum,  the  Pantheon,  the  Baths  of 
Caracalla,  or  the  Basilica  of  Constantine.  It  will  be 
observed  that  these  serve  civil,  not  religious,  purposes 
(with  the  exception  of  the  Pantheon)  :  this  fact  by  itself 
illustrates  the  practical  Roman  spirit.  But  there  is  more 
than  this.  The  distinctive  feature  of  this  new  architecture 
is  the  use  of  the  arch,  the  vault,  and  the  dome,  which  not 
only  carries  with  it  a  wholly  new  series  of  external  effects, 
depending  on  the  prominence  of  curves  instead  of  straight 
lines,  but  also  impHes  a  complete  revolution  in  constructive 
principles.  The  weight  of  the  superstructure  is  not  upheld 
by  direct  vertical  support,  but  distributed  by  means  of  the 
lateral  thrust,  which  is  called  into  play  by  the  principle 
of  the  arch,  and  thus  concentrated  on  certain  points  to 
which  exceptional  strength  is  given.  From  this  root  prin- 
ciple spring  the  later  developments  of  architecture,  not  only 
Byzantine  and  Romanesque,  but  also  Gothic ;  and  a  careful 
study  of  Roman  building  tends  to  show  that  many  of  the 
characteristic  features  of  the  later  styles  were  present  in 
germ  in  Roman  architecture. 

The  question  must  be  asked,  Did  the  Romans  owe  any- 
thing to  their  predecessors  in  this  respect?  It  cannot,  of 
course,  be  denied  that  the  constructive  use  of  the  arch  was 
known  from  very  early  times.  The  Greeks  of  the  Hellen- 
istic age  employed  it  in  substructures  and  passages,  but 
they  never  erected  the  main  framework  of  their  buildings 
on  this  system,  nor  did  they  give  external  prominence  to 
the  arch.  It  is  often  held  that  the  Etruscans  were  the 
creators  of  the  arcuated  style,  and  there  is  a  limited  truth 
in  this  statement.  The  monumental  gateways  of  their 
cities  made  the  use  of  the  arch  conspicuous  ;  and  when  we 
examine  their  rock-hewn  tombs,  which  reproduce  the  forms 
of  their  buildings,  we  see  that  the  vault  and  dome  must  have 
been  familiar  to  them.     These  facts  give  them  the  right  to 


II.]  ROMAN  ARCHITECTURE  23 

be  considered  the  pioneers  of  the  new  style ;  but  the 
credit  of  developing  its  inherent  possibilities  belongs  to 
the  Romans. 

In  the  previous  section  it  was  shown  that  it  was  the  dis- 
covery of  pozzolana  concrete,  with  its  union  of  rigidity 
and  lightness,  which  emboldened  the  Romans  to  attempt 
the  erection  of  their  gigantic  vaults  and  domes.  It  was, 
however,  only  by  gradual  stages  that  they  acquired  such 
mastery  over  their  materials.  We  have  a  good  example  of 
early  vaulting  in  the  Tabularium  (p.  150),  and  the  CoIos= 
seum  is  contrived  with  a  remarkable  economy  of  space  and 
material  as  a  system  of  vaulted  galleries  and  staircases  ; 
but  there  is  as  yet  no  attempt  to  cover  great  spaces  in  this 
manner.  Note  that  the  basilicas  of  early  date,  such  as  the 
Basilica  Julia,  although  they  had  vaulted  corridors,  were 
roofed  with  timber.  In  the  Pantheon,  which  (as  we  shall 
see,  p.  173)  belongs  to  the  reign  of  Hadrian,  we  have  a 
simple  but  intensely  impressive  example  of  the  artistic 
liandling  of  internal  space  which  the  new  architecture 
made  possible.  The  proportions  of  the  building  are  of 
the  simplest.  The  height  of  the  cupola  is  the  same  as  that 
of  the  drum  upon  which  it  rests,  and  the  total  height  of  the 
building  is  therefore  the  same  as  the  diameter  of  the  pave- 
ment. It  is  just  this  simplicity  which  gives  us  the  same 
aesthetic  pleasure  in  contemplating  a  Roman  interior 
which  we  feel  when  we  look  at  the  exterior  of  a  Greek 
temple.  This  form  of  art  has  never  been  lost  in  Italy,  and 
to  its  revival  at  the  Renaissance  we  owe  the  cupola  of 
St.  Peter's.  There  is,  however,  much  more  than  meets  the 
eye  in  the  dome  of  the  Pantheon.  Its  original  aspect  has 
been  changed  (see  p.  173),  and  recent  examinations  have 
brought  to  light  what  even  in  ancient  times  was  hidden  by 
the  decoration,  viz.  the  fact  that  an  elaborate  system  of 
brick  relieving  arches  runs  through  the  whole  of  the  con- 
crete. The  Roman  builders  did  not  trust  only  to  the  rigid 
cohesiveness  of  their  material ;  they  could  not,  in  fact,  have 
done  so,  so  long  as  the  mass  retained  any  of  its  fluidity. 
Moreover,  the  drum  is  not,  in  fact,  solid  throughout,  and  the 


24  •  ROMAN  ARCHITECTURE  [ii. 

experienced  architect  can  discern  in  its  structure  the  begin- 
nings of  an  articulated  system  of  supports  between 
which  the  weight  is  distributed.  In  the  domed  halls  of 
Hadrian's  Villa  at  Tivoli,  which  are  almost  contemporary 
with  the  Pantheon,  we  find  some  bold  extensions  of  this 
principle  ;  but  a  long  period  was  to  elapse  before  the  seed 
thus  sown  bore  its  full  fruit. 

From  the  decline  of  the  arts  which  set  in  with  the  third 
century  a.d.  architecture — if  we  set  aside  the  element  of 
plastic  decoration — was  exempt.  To  the  opening  years  of 
the  century  belong  the  Baths  of  Caracalla,  whose  remains 
form  the  most  striking  ejisevible  amongst  Roman  imperial 
constructions.  They  will  be  described  in  their  place  :  it  will 
suffice  to  note  that  the  central  hall  with  its  quadripartite 
vaulting  in  three  bays  surpassed  all  that  the  Roman  builder 
had  hitherto  attempted.  It  was,  however,  outdone  by  the 
Baths  of  Diocletian,  built  at  the  close  of  the  same  century, 
where  the  great  hall  preserves  something  of  its  aspect  as  an 
interior,  in  spite  of  the  restorations  which  have  made  it  into 
a  Christian  church.  To  the  architectural  student  there  are 
other  features  of  no  less  interest  than  these  colossal  interiors 
in  third-century  architecture.  The  Pantheon  solved  the 
(relatively)  easy  problem  of  the  cupola  supported  by  a  circular 
drum  :  the  next  step  was  to  construct  a  dome  over  a  rect- 
angular space,  and  we  find  this  attempted  in  one  of  the 
minor  halls  of  the  Baths  of  Caracalla  (p.  260).  We  do  not 
here  find  the  perfect  pendentive,  or  spherical  triangle,  at  the 
angles  of  the  building ;  but  this  became  known  to  the 
Romans  in  the  course  of  the  century  which  followed.  A 
more  complicated  problem  is  attacked  in  the  so-called 
*•  Temple  of  Minerva  Medica'*  (p.  222),  where  the  ground 
space  is  decagonal  :  the  cupola  is  built  up  on  a  framework 
of  brick  arches,  and  thus  lightened,  besides  being  pierced 
with  windows.  Crossing  the  border  of  the  fourth  century, 
we  come  to  the  Basilica  of  Constantine,  in  which  the  type 
exemplified  by  the  great  halls  of  the  Thermiie  is  ingeniously 
adapted  to  the  purposes  of  the  earlier  halls  of  justice,  while 
the  place  of  the  surrounding  corridors  is  taken  by  vaulted 


ii.]  ROMAN  ARCHITECTURE  25 

bays  so  planned  that  the  whole  building  is  self-contained  (see 
the  description,  p.  79).  The  history  of  the  cupola  culminates 
in  a  monument  which,  though  Christian  in  date  and  purpose, 
is  thoroughly  classical  in  conception  (and  even  in  decora- 
tion). This  is  the  Mausoleum  of  S.  Costanza  (see  Christian 
Rovie^  p.  329),  where  we  have  a  cupola  lighted  with  windows, 
carried  not  on  a  solid  drum,  but  on  twelve  couples  of  columns, 
and  buttressed  by  a  circular  ambulatory  roofed  with  a  barrel 
vault — an  exquisitely  articulated  piece  of  design. 

The  strength  of  Roman  architecture  lies  in  construction^ 
its  weakness  in  decoration.  Here  the  genius  of  the  Greeks 
had  found  perfect  expression  ;  and  the  forms  which  it  had 
bequeathed  to  the  Roman  builder  were  embodied  in  a 
classical  tradition  impossible  to  break.  The  three  orders 
of  columns — Doric,  Ionic,  and  Corinthian — were  retained 
with  certain  modifications  of  detail  which  need  not  here  be 
explained  :  the  Corinthian,  as  being  the  most  elaborate, 
was  by  far  the  most  popular  under  the  Empire.  Two  were 
added :  (i)  the  Tuscan,  a  simplified  Doric  without  the 
flutings,  due,  as  its  name  implies,  to  the  Etruscans,  and  (ii) 
the  Composite,  of  which  the  first  dated  example  is  to  be 
seen  in  the  Arch  of  Titus  :  this  is  simply  a  variety  of  the 
Corinthian  in  which  the  capital  is  enriched  by  scrolls  or 
volutes  borrowed  from  the  Ionic  order.  What  the  Romans 
failed  to  do  was  to  devise  a  new  system  of  decoration 
appropriate  to  their  new  methods  of  construction.  We 
know  that  their  interiors  were  panelled  with  coloured  marbles 
and  (later)  covered  with  brilliant  mosaics — of  which  those 
of  the  Christian  churches,  e.g.  S.  Maria  Maggiore  {Christia7i 
Rome^  p.  235  — the  theory  of  an  early  date  has  not,  however, 
stood  the  test  of  criticism)  can  give  us  some  idea,  and  the 
coffered  vaults  with  their  gilded  rosettes  must  have  added 
to  the  blaze  of  splendour.  Externally,  however,  the  difficulty 
of  bringing  about  a  harmony  such  as  existed  in  Greek 
architecture  between  decoration  and  function  was  not 
overcome.  The  scheme  which  is  characteristically  Roman 
is  that  which  we  see  in  the  Colosseum.  Here  the  three 
Greek  orders  are  superposed,  the  Doric  takmg  the  lowest 


26  ROMAN  ARCHITECTURE  [ii. 

and  the  Corinthian  the  highest  place  ;  and  each  range  of 
engaged  columns  appears  to  carry  an  architrave  running 
round  the  arcades.  The  result  is  certainly  effective,  and  it 
is  easy  to  account  for  its  immense  popularity ;  but  the 
columns  and  architraves  are  of  course  not  structural 
members  at  all,  but  elements  in  a  decorative  scheme  of 
lines.  From  the  use  of  the  engaged  column  as  an  ornament 
it  was  but  a  step  to  the  employment  of  the  free  column  in 
the  same  way  ;  and  the  columns  (with  returned  architraves) 
which  flank  the  bays  of  the  later  triumphal  arches,  such  as 
that  of  Septimius  Severdte,  are  signal  instances  of  the 
divorce  between  decoration  and  structural  function. 

Another  fault  of  Roman  taste  lay  in  excess  of  ornament. 
Here  the  Greek  artists  had  showed  conspicuous  self-restraint. 
The  Romans  departed  from  the  classical  Hellenic  standard 
in  various  ways.  Firstly,  they  covered  (either  partly  or 
wholly)  with  ornament  surfaces  which  would  have  been  left 
smooth  by  the  Greeks  ;  secondly,  they  multiplied  and 
enriched  the  mouldings  proper  to  the  orders  ;  thirdly,  they 
made  the  simple  vegetable  forms  which  played  so  large 
a  part  in  Greek  ornament  more  elaborate.  The  cornices 
preserved  in  the  Tabularium  (p.  149),  and  the  architectural 
slabs  and  pilasters  in  the  Lateran  Museum  (p.  232),  will 
illustrate  these  points. 


Ill 


ANCIENT  SCULPTURE  IN    ROMAN 
COLLECTIONS 

THE  Romans  were  not  devoid  of  artistic  endowment. 
Setting  aside  their  unique  achievement  in  the  domain 
of  architecture,  which  has  been  treated  separately,  they 
must  be  credited  with  the  production  of  masterpieces  in 
portrait=sculpture  and  in  historical  bas-relief  which 
entitle  them  to  a  definite  place — and  that  no  mean  one — 
amongst  the  artistic  nations.  At  the  same  time,  it  is  ob- 
vious that  their  national  temperament  was  practical  rather 
than  ideal,  and  that  in  art  as  in  literature  the  seeds  of  native 
genius  implanted  in  their  race  were  fertilised  only  by  contact 
with  Hellenic  civilisation  in  its  later  phases.  When  we 
speak  of  Roman  art,  we  mean  that  of  the  last  century  of  the 
Republic  and  the  first  four  centuries, of  the  Empire ;  and 
though  this  in  itself  is  of  sufficient  interest  to  form  a  special 
field  of  study,  it  does  not  possess  a  tithe  of  the  importance 
which  belongs  to  Greek  art.  The  Romans  were  them- 
selves admirers  of  the  Greek  genius  and  its  products 
as  ardent  as  any  of  our  own  contemporaries.  Not  that 
this  faculty  of  appreciation  existed  from  early  times.  It 
is  true  that  from  the  very  beginnings  of  Republican 
history  we  hear  of  Greek  craftsmen  summoned  to  adorn 
the  buildings  of  Rome.  A  temple  built  in  496  B.C.  to 
Ceres,  Liber,  and  Libera  was  decorated  in  the  archaic 
style  of  that  period  with  painted  terra-cottas  by  two 
Greek  artists  :  a  century  and  a  half  later  statues  of 
Pythagoras  and  Alcibiades,  the  wisest  and  bravest  of  the 


28  ANCIENT  SCULPTURE  [iii. 

Greeks,  were  set  up  in  the  Comitium,  and  doubtless  brought 
from  Athens.  But  the  predominant  influence  in  Early 
Rome  was  that  of  the  Etruscans,  whose  art  was  of  a 
different  order  from  that  of  the  Greeks.  A  visit  to  the 
Etruscan  collection  at  the  Vatican  (p.  343)  will  do  more 
than  any  description  to  make  the  visitor  realise  how,  with 
all  its  realism  and  individuality,  it  lacked  the  dignity  and 
restraint,  as  well  as  the  incommunicable  sense  of  the 
beautiful,  which  made  Greek  art  unique.  Marble  quarries 
were  not  worked  in  Italy  until  late  Republican  times,  so 
that  the  Etruscans,  when  they  did  not  employ  volcanic  stone 
or  terra-cotta,  were  forced  to  use  bronze,  in  the  working  of 
which  they  were  justly  celebrated.  The  **Mars  of  Todi  " 
(though  found  in  Umbria)  will  illustrate  Etruscan  bronze- 
work  ;  for  terra-cotta  we  have  a  rich  material  in  the  sarco- 
phagi and  ash-chests,  and  the  later  phases  of  this  form  of 
sculpture,  in  which  the  influence  of  contemporary  Greek  art 
is  clearly  discernible,  may  be  seen  in  the  Sculptures  from 
Falerii,  in  the  Villa  di  Papa  Giulio  (p.  353).  The  importa- 
tion of  Greek  works  into  Rome  began  with  the  conquest 
of  Syracuse  in  212  B.C.,  and  from  thenceforth  each  victory 
won  meant  the  spoliation  of  the  conquered  cities  in  order 
that  the  triumph  of  the  Roman  commander  might,  if 
possible,  surpass  those  which  had  preceded  it  in  magnifi- 
cence. For  a  century  or  more  love  of  display  rather  than 
genuine  admiration  of  the  beautiful  was  the  ruling  motive 
in  this  unbridled  license  of  plunder ;  but  when  "  captive 
Greece  enslaved  her  fierce  conqueror  and  brought  the  arts 
into  rustic  Latium,"  a  true  .nesthetic  appreciation  of  Greek 
masterpieces  came  into  being  :  connoisseurship  and  criticism 
were  common  in  the  closing  days  of  the  Republic — in  spite 
of  the  conventional  sneers  of  Cicero  in  his  attack  on  Verres 
— and  although  the  prevailing  taste  was  for  strictly  classical 
models,  the  Roman  collectors  adorned  their  palaces,  villas, 
and  parks  with  works  of  all  periods.  For  those  who 
could  not  afford  to  possess  originals  copies  were  produced, 
mainly  by  Greeks  working  in  Rome,  and  under  the  Empire 
the  city  and  the  belt  of  villas  by  which  it  was  surrounded 


III.]  ANCIENT  SCULPTURE  29 

were  crowded  with  statues  representing  every  phase  of 
Hellenic  and  Hellenistic  sculpture.  From  the  days  of  the 
Renaissance,  when  originals  such  as  the  Laocoon  (p.  29) 
and  copies  like  the  Apollo  of  the  Belvedere  (p.  303)  were 
brought  to  light  and  inspired  unbounded  enthusiasm,  there 
has  been  a  constant  stream  of  discoveries,  peopling  the 
museums  and  private  collections  of  Rome  (and  for  that 
matter  of  Northern  Europe)  with  statues  and  reliefs,  whose 
inestimable  value  for  us  lies  in  the  fact  that  they  fill  in  some 
measure  the  great  gaps  in  the  history  of  Greek  sculpture 
caused  by  the  destruction  of  all  but  a  fraction  of  its  original 
monuments.  The  first  serious  and  scientific  attempt  to 
retrace  the  outlines  of  the  history  of  ancient  art  was  made 
by  Winckelmann,  the  librarian  of  Cardinal  Albani,  in  the 
eighteenth  century ;  and  his  success  was  remarkable  in 
view  of  the  second-hand  evidence  of  the  copies  upon  which 
he  was  forced  to  rely.  The  archaeological  discoveries  of  the 
nineteenth  century,  beginning  with  the  transportation  of 
the  Parthenon  sculptures  to  London  (which  in  itself  was 
equivalent  to  many  discoveries)  have  placed  us  in  an 
entirely  new  relation  to  the  sculptures  of  the  Roman 
collections.  Few  indeed  are  the  masterpieces  of  the  Greek 
sculptors  which  have  been  restored  to  us — the  Hermes  of 
Praxiteles  stands  almost  alone — but  enough  original  work 
has  come  to  light  in  Greece  and  Asia  Minor  to  enable  us  to 
measure  the  interval  which  separates  even  the  best  copy 
turned  out  by  the  workshops  of  Imperial  Rome  from  the 
living  handiwork  of  the  Greek  master's  chisel.  Three  facts 
deserve  to  be  constantly  remembered  as  we  pass  through 
the  Roman  sculpture  galleries  :  (i)  Most  of  the  finest  Greek 
statues  were  of  bronze,  and  these  were  copied  in  marble 
as  it  was  cheaper  and  easier  to  work.  Now  bronze 
reflects  light,  while  marble  absorbs  it ;  and  the  effect 
of  the  copies  is  therefore  very  different,  from  that  of  the 
originals.  Again,  a  bronze  figure  needs  no  artificial 
support,  whilst  a  marble  statue  must  have  a  tree-trunk  or 
some  other  support  to  give  it  stability,  and  ugly  bars  or 
puntelli  have  to  be  inserted  to  prop  up  projecting  parts 


30  ANCIENT  SCULPTURE  [iii. 

such  as  extended  arms.  Some  copyists  showed  great 
ingemiity  in  adapting  their  models  to  the  conditions  of  the 
new  material ;  see,  for  example,  what  is  said  as  to  the  Apollo 
of  the  Belvedere  (p.  303).  (2)  All  ancient  marbles  were 
coloured ;  in  some  few  instances  traces  of  the  colour 
remain  (see  on  the  statue  of  Augustus  from  Prima  Porta, 
p.  322) ;  but  they  never  suffice  to  give  an  impression  of  the 
original  effect.^  (3)  Except  in  the  recently  formed  collections, 
Such  as  that  of  the  Museo  delle  Terme,  the  statues  (which 
were  seldom  perfect  when  discovered)  have  been  cleaned 
with  acids,  polished,  worked  over,  and  the  missing  parts 
restored,  often  in  a  thoroughly  misleading  manner. 

The  sculptures  in  the  Roman  museums  are  not,  un- 
fortunately, arranged  in  such  a  way  that  visitors  may  study 
the  works  of  various  schools  and  periods  continuously, 
although  certain  classes  of  monuments,  such  as  Roman  or 
Greek  portrait-busts,  are  sometimes  grouped  together.  In 
order,  therefore,  that  the  traveller  may  properly  appreciate 
the  esthetic  value  of  the  works  which  he  sees,  he  should 
acquire  some  preliminary  notion  of  the  stages  through  which 
Greek  art  passed  in  its  growth,  maturity,  and  decline.  A 
well-arranged  museum  of  casts,  such  as  that  formed  by 
Professor  Loewy  in  Via  della  Marmorata  94,  will  be  found  of 
great  service.  The  Museo  Barracco  (p.  185)  contains  some- 
thing like  an  epitome  of  the  history  of  Greek  sculpture.  Pro- 
fessor Ernest  Gardner's  Handbook  of  Greek  Sculpture  is  of 
convenient  size,  and  should  be  read  by  all  who  wish  to  study 
the  subject  with  profit.  The  principal  passages  of  ancient 
writers  dealing  with  the  history  of  sculpture  are  given  (with 
an  English  translation)  in  Stuart  Jones's  Select  Passages  of 
Ancient  Writers  Illustrative  of  the  History  of  Greek 
Sculpture. 

Archaic  sculpture,  under  which  is  included  all  the  work  of 
Greek  artists  prior  to  the  attainment  of  naturalism  and  the 

^  Those  who  have  visited  Constantinople  will  have  been  able  to 
form  some  conception  of  the  effect  of  painting  as  applied  to  relief 
from  the  sarcophagi  of  Sidon. 


HI.]  ANCIENT  SCULPTURE  31 

abandonment  of  convention  in  the  middle  of  the  fifth  century 
B.C.  is,  naturally,  not  very  largely  represented  in  the  Roman 
collections.^  There  was,  however,  a  taste  for  such  works  in 
the  time  of  Augustus,  who  sent  to  Greece  for  statues  by 
Bupalus  and  Athenis,  artists  of  the  sixth  century  B.C.,  in 
order  to  decorate  the  pediment  of  his  new  temple  of  Apollo 
on  the  Palatine,  and  to  this  fashion  we  owe  the  preservation 
of  some  examples  of  the  work  of  the  earlier  schools.  The 
earliest  athletic  sculpture  and  the  progress  made  in  the 
treatment  of  the  nude,  in  which  the  Greeks  were  to  achieve 
an  unique  distinction,  cannot  be  adequately  studied  in  Rome  : 
but  there  are  good  examples  of  female  statues,  whether  of 
the  type  whose  elaborate  and  elegant  drapery  points  to  Ionic 
influence,  or  of  the  simpler  and  more  truly  artistic  style  in 
which  the  reaction  of  Greece  proper  asserted  itself  (see  on 
the  statues  in  the  Capitoline  Museum,  p.  105).  For  the 
development  of  sculpture  in  the  fifth  century  we  have 
abundant  material.  The  school  to  which  we  owe  the  pedi- 
ment-sculptures of  ^gina,  now  in  Munich,  is  not,  indeed, 
represented  except  by  some  heads  in  the  Barracco  collection 
(p.  187)  :  but  the  athletic  sculptors  of  the  fifth  century, 
whether  Attic  or  Peloponnesian,  were  clearly  favourites  with 
the  Roman  public.  Rome  possesses  several  copies  of  the 
famous  discobolus  of  Myron  (p.  219),  in  which  Greek  art 
sprang  suddenly  to  maturity  and  attacked  a  problem  of  im- 
mense difficulty  with  complete  success.  Less  daring,  but 
no  less  instructive  to  the  student  of  form,  are  the  standing 
figures  ot  POLYCLITUS  —  the  Doryphoros  and  Diadu= 
menos :  the  former  is  represented  by  a  complete  figure 
in  the  Braccio  Nuovo  (p.  321).  The  standing  discobolus 
of  the  Sala  della  Biga  (p.  333)  reproduces  another  master- 
piece of  fifth-century  athletic  sculpture  of  the  Attic  school ; 
while  the  girUrunner  of  the  Galleria  dei  Candelabri  (p.  337) 
and  the  Boy  extracting  a  thorn  in  the  Palazzo  dei  Con- 

^  The  visitor  will  find  a  collection  of  works  belonging  to  this 
period  in  the  "  Roo.n  of  Archaic  Sculpture"  in  the  Palazzo  dei 
Conservator!. 


32  ANCIENT  SCULPTURE  [iii. 

servatori  are  graceful  and  individual  products  of  the  Pelopon- 
nesian  school.  In  religious  sculpture  we  have  the  colossal 
head  of  a  goddess  (p.  206),  and  the  throne  of  Aphrodite 
(p.  206),  both  in  the  Ludovisi  collection  ;  and  the  Attic 
school  of  Phidias  and  his  associates  furnished  the  originals 
of  many  statues  in  the  Roman  museums,  such  as  the  Apollo 
of  the  Museo  delle  Terme  (p.  212).  To  the  Athenian 
sculptors,  moreover,  vi^e  owe  the  beginnings  of  portraiture, 
illustrated  by  the  inscribed  bust  of  Anacreon  in  the  Palazzo 
dei  Conservatori  (p.  136),  and  the  heads  of  Athenian 
Generals,  including  the  Pericles  of  the  Sala  delle  Muse  (p. 
281)  which  reproduces  a  work  by  Cresilas.  The  severity 
and  idealism  of  fifth-century  sculpture,  in  all  its  schools,  may 
be  studied  in  the  several  types  of  Amazon  represented  in 
the  museums  (see  p.  123).  In  the  latter  half  of  the  fifth 
century  Attic  artists  began  to  represent  flowing  draperies 
with  exquisite  refinement :  we  owe  to  this  school  the 
Maenad  of  the  Palazzo  dei  Conservatori  (p.  142),  the  so- 
called  *•  Venus  Qenetrix"  (see  p.  298),  and  other  works. 
For  the  study  of  sculpture  in  the  fourth  century,  when  the 
Greek  artists  attained  the  supreme  expression  of  physical 
beauty — if  at  the  expense  of  a  certain  lowering  of  their  ideals 
of  divinity — abundant. material  is  to  be  found  in  Rome.  Both 
the  Attic  school,  represented  by  SCOPAS  and  Praxiteles, 
and  that  of  Sicyon  in  the  Peloponnese,  which  continued  the 
traditions  of  Polyclitus  and  had  for  its  great  master  Lysippus, 
are  distinctly  revealed  to  us  in  fine  copies.  The  Cnidian 
Aphrodite,  resting  Satyr,  and  lizard=slaying  Apollo  of 
Praxiteles  (pp.  274,  130,  291)  were  amongst  his  most  famous 
works,  and  surpassed  in  fame  the  extant  Hermes  of  Olympia, 
to  which  the  so-called  Antinous  of  the  Belvedere  (p.  306) 
is  nearly  akin.  Scopas  may  be  studied  in  the  Meleager  of  the 
Vatican  (p.  307),  together  with  the  better  copy  of  the  head 
in  the  garden  of  the  Villa  Medici,  and  in  the  numerous 
replicas  of  the  head  of  his  Heracles  (p.  106,  etc.).  Beside 
these  two  great  figures  the  other  Attic  sculptors  of  the  fourth 
century  stand  out  somewhat  less  distinctly.  To  its  earlier 
years  belong  TiMOTHEOS,  of  whose  style  we  gain  some  idea 


111.]  ANCIENT  SCULPTURE  Zl 

from  the  Leda  of  the  Capitol  (p.  in),  and  Cephisodotus, 
the  father  of  Praxiteles,  to  whose  statue  of  Hermes  with  the 
infant  Dionysus  we  must  assign  the  child's  figure  in  the 
Museo  delle  Terme  (p.  203).  Leochares  was  famous  for 
his  Ganymede,  a  poor  copy  of  which  is  in  the  Galleria  dei 
Candelabri  (p.  325) ;  if  the  view  held  by  many  high  authori- 
ties be  accepted,  we  have  a  far  finer  example  of  his  style  in 
the  Apollo  of  the  Belvedere  (p.  303).  He  was  employed 
about  the  middle  of  the  fifth  century  on  the  sculptured 
decoration  of  the  Mausoleum,  the  remains  of  which  are  in 
the  British  Museum,  together  with  Scopas,  Timotheos,  and 
Bryaxis,  who  in  his  later  years  created  a  fresh  type  of 
divinity — Sarapis,  the  Graeco-Egyptian  god  worshipped  in 
the  newly-founded  Alexandria  :  of  this  we  have  a  copy  in 
the  Rotunda  of  the  Vatican  (p.  277).  The  Peloponnesian 
school  is  fortunately  represented  by  its  greatest  masterpiece, 
the  Apoxyomenos  or  "athlete  scraping  himself"  of  Lysip. 
PUS  in  the  Braccio  Nuovo  (p.  326),  whose  influence  is  trace- 
able in  many  other  works,  such  as  the  Silenus  and  infant 
Dionysus,  also  in  the  Braccio  Nuovo  (p.  322).  He  was 
the  only  sculptor  privileged  to  portray  Alexander  the 
Great,  and  we  therefore  catch  echoes  of  his  style  in  such 
heads  as  that  of  Alexander  as  the  Sun=god  in  the 
Capitohne  Museum  (p.  129).  His  pupil,  Eutychides, 
executed  a  statue  which  personified  the  **  Fortune  of 
Antioch  " ;  of  this  we  have  a  small  copy  in  the  Galleria  dei 
Candelabri  (p.  337).  Such  are  a  few  of  the  lost  master- 
pieces of  the  fourth  century  which  the  Roman  copies  help  us 
to  re-create  ;  and  when  we  have  studied  them,  we  are  able  to 
recognise  in  a  host  of  other  statues  and  reliefs  the  style  of 
that  period,  and  to  understand  how  the  ancient  critics  were 
in  doubt  whether  to  assign  to  Scopas  or  Praxiteles  the 
group  of  the  Niobids,  to  which  belong  some  isolated 
figures  of  great  interest  (pp.  no,  324).  The  advance  in 
portraiture  from  the  conventional,  half-ideal  types  of  the 
fifth  century  to  the  masterly  characterisation  of  the  close  of 
the  fourth  is  easy  to  trace,  if  we  examine  such  a  series  as 
the  portraits  of  Plato  (p.  284) — derived  from  an  original  by 


34  ANCIENT  SCULPTURE  [iii. 

the  Attic  artist  SiLANiON— of  Sophocles  (p.  235)  and 
Euripides  (p.  118),  rendered  according  to  the  taste  of  the 
latter  half  of  the  century,  when  they  were  executed  for  the 
adornment  of  the  theatre  at  Athens,  and  of  Demosthenes 
(p.  326)  ;  this  last  lelongs  properly  to  the  third  century, 
since  the  original  was  the  work  of  Polyeuctus,  and  was 
set  up  in  280  B.C. 

We  have  now  crossed  the  threshold  of  a  new  age— that 
usually  termed  Hellenistic,  when  the  conquests  of  Alexander 
had  enlarged  the  bounds  of  the  Greek  world,  and  the  estab- 
lishment of  powerful  monarchies  by  his  successors  had 
created  a  new  type  of  society — luxurious,  cosmopolitan, 
critical,  and  intensely  "modern,"  The  stream  of  art  now 
flowed  in  many  currents  ;  rival  schools  sprang  into  existence, 
and  there  were  not  wanting  reactionary  tendencies  :  but  on 
the  whole  the  most  striking  characteristic  of  the  age  was  its 
realism,  embodied  in  such  works  as  the  drunken  old 
woman  of  Myron  the  younger,  (p.  109)  the  original  of 
which  was  at  Smyrna,  or  the  fisherman  of  the  Galleria  dei 
Candelabri  (p.  336).  The  genre  figure  of  the  boy  with  the 
goose  (p.  127),  after  Boethus  of  Chalcedon,  is  the  only 
work  of  this  kind  whose  artist  is  known  :  but  the  crouching 
Aphrodite  (p.  299)  of  Doedalsas  the  Bithynian  is  little 
more  than  a  life-study  labelled  with  the  name  of  a  goddess. 
Ideal  sculpture,  however,  was  produced  as  largely  as  ever. 
The  most  important  school  was  that  of  Pergamon,  whose 
artists  were  fortunate  in  drawing  their  inspiration  from  the 
last  triumph  of  Greek  over  barbarian — the  victories  of  the 
Attalid  kings  over  the  Cells  who  invaded  Asia  Minor  in  the 
first  half  of  the  third  century  B.C.  Beside  the  famous  altar 
whose  reliefs  are  now  in  the  Berlin  Museum,  Attains  I  caused 
a  num.ber  of  figures  and  groups,  either  directly  illustrating  or 
symbolically  recalling  his  defeat  of  the  Gauls,  to  be  set  up  on 
the  citadel  of  Pergamon  and  on  the  Acropolis  at  Athens.  To 
the  former  class  belong  the  ''Dying  Gaul  *'  in  the  Capitoline 
Museum  (p.  128)  and  the  *«  Gaul  and  his  wife"  of  the  Ludo- 
visi  collection  :  the  latter  are  represented  by  a  figure  in 
the  Vatican  (p.  338).     The  school  from  which  proceeded 


III.]  ANCIENT  SCULPTURE  35 

these  works  must  also  be  credited  with  such  a  fine  creation 
as  the  Triton  of  the  Galleria  delle  Statue  (p.  289).  Perga- 
mene  artists  of  a  later  generation  returned  to  the  calmer 
spirit  of  the  classical  period  ;  their  work  is  nobly  represented 
by  the  figure  of  a  goddess  in  the  room  of  the  Dying  Gaul 
(p.  1 28).  The  school  of  Rhodes,  which  after  the  subjugation 
of  Greece  by  the  Romans,  succeeded  to  the  position  held 
by  that  of  Pergamon,  is  represented  by  its  masterpiece,  and 
that  the  original,  viz.  the  Laocoon  (p.  300),  a  work  whose 
poignant  realism  tends  to  obscure  its  religious  significance  : 
and  the  Centaurs  of  the  Capitol,  copied  in  the  second  cen- 
tury A.D.  by  two  Asiatic  artists,  have  been  assigned  to  the 
same  place  and  period.  To  the  Alexandrian  school  we 
must  ascribe  the  figure  of  the  Nile  (p.  328)  ;  but  it  does 
not  seem  to  have  been  as  important  as  those  of  Pergamon 
and  Rhodes.  Besides  the  works  above-mentioned,  there 
are  a  number  of  others  of  which  we  can  only  say  that  they 
are  of  Hellenistic  date  and  style  without  specifying  their 
place  of  origin.  Such  a»s  the  sleeping  Ariadne  of  the 
Galleria  delle  Statue  (p.  286)  and  the  Hermaphrodite  of 
the  Museo  delle  Terme  (p.  215).  In  this  latter  museum  the 
bronze  boxer  (p.  211)  illustrates  later  athletic  sculpture 
and  the  bronze  statue  of  a  king  (p.  212)  is  a  striking  ex- 
ample of  idealised  portraiture.  A  single  head  in  the  Capi- 
toline  Museum  (p.  no)  recalls  the  work  of  the  one  artist 
from  the  Greek  mainland  who  achieved  greatness  in  religious 
sculpture — Damophon  of  Messene.  Numerous  types  of 
Aphrodite — the  latest  being  that  of  the  Capitol  (p.  in) — 
show  the  Hellenistic  spirit  in  its  gradual  development. 
Roman  female  statues  display  a  wealth  of  motives  in  the 
treatment  of  drapery  which  is  inherited  from  the  Hellenistic 
schools,  especially  those  of  Asia  Minor— the  •*  Pudicitia" 
type  (p.  324)  is  a  good  example.  The  portraits  of  philo- 
sophers and  poets  which  belong  to  the  Hellenistic  age  are 
discernible  by  their  intense  realism  of  detail,  yet  firm  grasp 
of  the  broad  traits  of  character :  the  ** pseudo-Seneca" 
(p.  116)  and  the  Zeno  of  the  Capitol  (p.  129)  are  conspicuous 
examples.     In  bas-relief  there  was  a  growing  tendency  to 


36  ANCIENT  SCULPTURE  [iii. 

introduce  accessories,  especially  landscape,  which  must  be 
attributed  to  the  influence  of  the  schools  of  painting  :  it  is, 
unfortunately,  seldom  clear  whether  the  reliefs  which  are 
preserved  to  us  belong  to  this  or  to  the  succeeding  age. 
The  Room  of  the  Philosophers  (p.  ii6)  contains  some 
examples. 

Towards  the  close  of  the  period,  when  even  the  shadow  of 
Hellenic  independence  had  ceased  to  exist,  it  seemed  as 
though  the  creative  power  of  Greek  artists  was  spent : 
classicism  became  the  dominant  tendency  and  continued 
to  reign  under  the  newly-founded  Empire  of  Augustus. 
The  motives  of  Attic  sculpture — mostly  of  the  fifth  century — 
were  copied  or  adapted  to  fresh  needs.  We  can  trace  a 
succession  of  sculptors — Pasiteles,  the  founder  of  the 
school,  of  whom  we  read  in  Pliny,  Stephanus,  his  pupil, 
the  artist  of  a  statue  in  the  Villa  Albani  based  on  a  fifth- 
century  athletic  type,  and  Stephanus'  pupil  Menelaus,  to 
whom  we  owe  the  group  of  "Orestes  and  Electra"  in 
the  Ludovisi  collection  (p.  207).  The  colossal  head  of 
Juno  in  the  same  collection  (p.  209)  is  the  finest  creation  of 
this  school,  dating  from  the  first  century  A.D.  A  singular 
fashion  was  the  imitation  of  Archaic  Sculpture  by  these 
*'Neo-Attic"  artists,  especially  in  decorative  work  for  the 
adornment  of  well-heads,  candelabra,  marble  vases,  etc. 
The  Capitoline  Puteal  (p.  112)  with  a  procession  of  Twelve 
Gods  is  a  striking  illustration  of  this. 

In  the  meantime  a  Roman  national  art  was  brought  to 
the  birth.  The  first  manifestation  of  it  is  seen  in  the 
portrait  busts  of  Republican  datci,  excellent  examples  of 
which  may  be  seen  in  the  Museo  Chiaramonti  (p.  313  f.), 
distinguishable  at  a  glance  by  their  hard  features  and  un- 
sparing realism  even  from  the  least  iideal  of  Greek  portraits. 
We  see  here  the  self-assertion  of  a  spirit  which  had  already 
found  expression  in  Etruscan  art  {see  above),  and  was 
wholly  in  harmony  with  the  Roman  national  character. 
But  in  the  cosmopolitan  capital  of  the  world  its  development 
was  checked  by  the  fashion  which  dictated  the  importation 
and  imitation  of  Greek  products;  the  bronze  *«CamilIus" 


III.]  ANCIENT  SCULPTURE  37 

of  the  Palazzo  dei  Conservator!  (p.  144),  though  Roman  in 
subject,  is  unmistakably  a  creation  of  the  Neo- Attic  school. 
And  in  Augustan  art,  filled  as  it  is  with  the  spirit  of  the 
New  Empire — the  traveller  may  study  it  in  two  of  its 
masterpieces,  the  statue  of  Augustus  from  Prima  Porta 
in  the  Braccio  Nuovo  (p.  322),  and  the  reliefs  of  the  Ara 
Pads  (p.  204)— the  form  is  supplied  by  Greek  classicism. 
In  order  to  grasp  the  main  outlines  of  the  history  of  Roman 
art  nothing  is  more  instructive  than  the  attentive  study 
of  the  Imperial  portraits  \  and  not  only  those  in  the 
"  Room  of  the  Emperors  "  in  the  Capitoline  Museum,  where 
some  periods  are  ill -represented.  Thus  the  "young 
Augustus"  of  the  Sala  dei  Busti  (p.  293),  the  Tiberius  of 
the  Museo  Chiaramonti  (p.  316),  the  statues  from  Cervetri 
in  the  Lateran  (p.  234),  the  Claudius  of  the  Vatican  Rotunda 
(p.  276),  and  the  Corbulo  of  the  Sala  dei  Filosofi  (p.  118),  may 
be  taken  as  typical  of  the  art  which  flourished  under  the 
first  dynasty — somewhat  cold,  academic,  and  unprogressive ; 
while  the  finest  examples  of  Roman  portraiture  belong  to  the 
succeeding  period  of  the  Flavian  emperors,  and  may  be 
appreciated  by  examining  the  Vespasian  of  the  "Museo 
delle  Terme"  (p.  200)  and,  above  all,  the  so-called  "Mark 
Antony"  of  the  Braccio  Nuovo.  The  merit  of  these  works 
lies  in  the  masterly  skill  with  which  the  characteristic  traits 
of  the  subject  are  emphasised  without  overloading  of  detail. 
This  phase  of  art  was  short-lived  ;  a  harder  style,  recalling 

^  Note  that  the  shape  of  a  bust  indicates  the  date  of  a  portrait. 
Under  Augustus  and  his  dynasty  only  the  collar-bone  and  a 
portion  of  the  breast  is  shown  ;  in  the  Flavian  period  we  have  the 
outline  of  the  shoulders  ;  under  Trajan  the  armpit  is  included ; 
under  Hadrian  part  of  the  upper  arm  ;  and  still  more  under  the 
Antonines.  In  the  following  century  half-lengths  are  found,  but 
there  is  also  a  return  to  earlier  forms.  In  usin^i;  this  criterion,  the 
traveller  must  be  careful  to  note  whether  head  and  bust  are 
contemporary,  i.e.  whether  the  bust  is  unbroken  at  the  neck, 
since  a  large  number  of  the  portrait-heads  in  Roman  museums  are 
set  on  busts  which  are  either  modern  or,  if  ancient,  of  a  different 
period  from  the  head. 


38  ANCIENT  SCULPTURE  [iii. 

that  of  the  Republican  portraits,  came  into  vogue  under 
Trajan,  and  is  iUustrated  by  his  portraits.  Hadrian,  whose 
features  are  famihar  from  the  colossal  bust  in  the  Vatican 
Rotunda  (p.  279),  and  many  others — he  set  the  fashion  of 
wearing  a  beard,  which  furnishes  a  useful  criterion  of  date 
— was  a  phil-Hellenist,  and  there  was,  as  we  shall  see,  a 
return  to  classicism  under  his  rule.  The  portraits  of  his 
favourite  Antinous  show  this  tendency ;  but  a  singular 
innovation  in  portraiture  which  dates  from  this  period,  viz. 
the  plastic  indication  of  the  iris  and  pupil  of  the  eye, 
points  in  an  entirely  new  direction.  From  the  late  Hellen- 
istic period  onwards  there  had  been  a  tendency  (see  below) 
to  overstep  the  conventional  boundary  between  the  spheres 
of  painting  and  sculpture  ;  ^  and  from  the  middle  of  the 
second  century  a.d,  onwards  Roman  sculptors  devoted 
themselves  to  the  search  after  effective  contrasts  of  light 
and  shadow,  smooth  and  complex  surfaces,  etc.,  in  which 
the  influence  of  pictorial  principles  is  shown.  In  por- 
traiture this  is  manifest  in  the  busts  of  the  Antonine  period, 
such  as  that  of  Commodus  in  the  Palazzo  dei  Conservatori 
(p.  139).  After  the  fall  of  the  dynasty  of  Septimius  Severus 
— whose  successor  Caracaila  is  portrayed  in  a  number  of 
very  remarkable  busts — there  was  a  gradual  decline  in  art, 
as  in  material  prosperity  ;  but  the  Roman  portrait-sculptors 
held  their  own,  and  created  a  new  style  which,  with  all  its 
parsimony  of  means  (the  hair  is  merely  blocked  out  and 
sprinkled  with  incised  chisel-strokes)  achieved  the  ^;/<^  which 
they  kept  before  them,  viz.  the  mercilessly  faithful  reproduc- 
tion of  the  characteristic  features,  however  repulsive,  of  their 
subjects.  This  practice  dates  from  the  time  of  Caracaila, 
but  it  culminates  in  the  art  to  which  we  owe  the  wonderful 
portraits  of  Philip  the  Arabian  in  the  Braccio  Nuovo 
(p.  329),  and  of  an  unnamed  Roman  in  the  Sala  delle 
Colombe  (p.  109).    There  was  a  strange  revival  of  something 

^  In  this  connection  the  growing  use  of  COStly  materials, 
often  difficult  to  work — such  as  porphyry,  green  basalt,  and  the 
like — for  sculpture,  should  be  noted.  This  practice  marks  the 
decline  of  true  artistic  feeling. 


III.]  ANCIENT  SCULPTURE  39 

like  the  Antonine  style  under  Qallienus  (cf.  p.  115);  but 
the  economic  and  political  calamities  which  all  but  over- 
whelmed Rome  in  the  middle  of  the  third  century  a.d.  gave 
the  death-blow  to  naturalistic  art.  The  revival  of  the 
Imperial  power  by  Diocletian  and  Constantine  brought 
into  being  a  new  state,  ruled  by  naked  despotism,  a  new 
society,  held  together  by  ties  of  hereditary  caste,  and  a  new 
art,  in  which  the  Oriental  influence,  which  had  lain  at  the 
root  of  the  transformation  beginning  in  the  Antonine  age, 
was  completely  triumphant.  The  Nearer  East,  with  all  its 
vast  ingenuity  in  the  elaboration  of  ornament,  has  never 
excelled  in  the  representation  of  the  human  figure  (which  is, 
of  course,  deliberately  shunned  by  the  peoples  who  main- 
tain the  Judaic  tradition)  ;  and  works  of  the  Constantinian 
and  later  periods,  such  as  colossal  heads  in  the  Palazzo  dei 
Conservator!  (pp.  1 32, 1 45)  and  Room  of  the  Emperors  (p.  1 1 5), 
recall  by  their  fixed,  expressionless  gaze,  the  "frontal" 
types,  stiff  and  symmetrical,  of  the  earliest  Oriental  sculp- 
ture. The  statues  of  magistrates  holding  the  mappa 
in  the  Palazzo  dei  Conservator!  (p.  140)  are  good  examples 
of  later  Roman  work. 

Historical  reliefs  exhibit  the  same  phases  of  develop- 
ment as  portraiture,  and  are  equally  deserving  of  study. 
The  Ara  Pacis  Augustae  has  already  been  mentioned : 
there  is  no  monument  of  like  importance  which  we  can 
assign  to  the  first  hundred  years  of  the  Empire — the  relief 
from  Cervetri  in  the  Lateran  (p.  235)  may  be  mentioned. 
In  the  Flavian  period,  however,  we  have  the  Arch  of  Titus, 
with  its  scenes  from  the  Jewish  triumph  of  the  Emperor, 
conceived  and  executed  with  the  supreme  "art  which  conceals 
art,"  and  some  fragments  in  the  museums  (pp.  236,  303).^ 
There  are  a  number  of  monuments  dating  from  the  reign  of 
Trajan,  and  illustrating  the  purely  historical  and  thoroughly 
Roman  sculpture  of  his  time.  Many  of  them  belong  to  the 
Great  Frieze  which  once  adorned  his  Forum  (p.  163) ;  but 

1  The  fine  circular  panels  on  the  Arch  of  Constantine  seem 
to  belong  to  the  Flavian  epoch. 


40  ANCIENT  SCULPTURE  [iii. 

they  are  now  scattered.  Some  slabs  were  used  to  decorate 
the  Arch  of  Constantine:  others  are  in  the  portico  of  the 
Villa  Borghese  ;  one  is  in  the  Villa  Medici  (see  p.  190). 
Above  all,  there  is  the  Column  of  Trajan,  less  technically 
perfect,  but  far  more  interesting  as  a  historical  document. 
Never  again  did  Roman  sculptors  rise  to  the  same  height, 
inspired  by  the  tiyumphs  of  Roman  valour.  The  panels  in 
the  Palazzo  dei  Conservatori  belonging  to  the  reigns  of 
Hadrian  and  Antoninus  Pius  are  conventional  and  un- 
inspired :  and  the  most  remarkable  monument  of  the  time 
is  the  base  of  the  Antonine  Column  in  the  Giardino  della 
Pigna  (p.  331),  where  beside  the  apotheosis  of  the  Emperor 
and  his  consort  on  the  front,  reproducing  traditional  motives 
in  a  "classicising"  style,  we  find  a  new  art  endeavouring  to 
find  expression  in  the  cavalry  manceuvres  of  the  sides. 
The  Column  of  Marcus  Aurelius,  a  direct  imitation  of 
that  of  Trajan,  shows  the  development  of  these  new 
principles  ;  the  oblong  panels  on  the  Attic  of  the  Arch  of 
Constantine  are  of  the  same  date.  But  the  sculptors  of 
these  monuments  had  lost  their  grasp  of  the  true  principles 
of  relief — a  crowd  of  detached  figures  does  not  produce  the 
effect  of  a  picture  conceived  as  a  whole  and  concentrated  in 
space.  The  reliefs  of  the  Arch  of  Severus  show  the  rapid 
decline  of  this  school.  The  third  century  has  little  to  show 
in  the  field  of  historical  sculpture  ;  but  the  narrow  bands  of 
relief  on  the  Arch  of  Constantine,  illustrating  the  military 
exploits  of  that  Emperor  (perhaps  also  of  Diocletian),  should 
be  studied  as  showing  that  in  the  Orientalised  art  of  the 
new  monarchy  relief  has  become  an  ornamental  adjunct  of 
architecture  with  little  substantive  interest. 

Most  of  the  works  described  in  the  above  summary  are 
public  in  character  ;  much  might  be  written  on  the  private 
art  of  the  Imperial  period,  and  especially  on  the  sarco= 
pha^i.  Cremation  was  the  ordinary  practice  amongst  the 
Romans  of  the  Republic  :  the  family  of  the  Scipios  were 
almost  alone  in  retaining  the  old  custom  of  burial,  and 
hence  we  find  the  Sarcophagus  of  Scipio  Barbatus  in  the 
Vatican  (p.  309).    But  under  the  Empire,  and  more  especially 


111.]  ANCIENT  SCULPTURE  41 

after  a.d,  100,  the  dead  were  often  interred — especially  the 
wealthier  ;  and  the  Roman  museums  and  palaces  are  rich  in 
sarcophagi,  usually  adorned  with  scenes  from  Greek  myth- 
ology, in  which  it  is  not  always  easy  to  trace  even  a  remote 
allusion  to  the  life  beyond  the  grave.  The  sleep  of  Endy- 
mion  or  Ariadne  may  typify  the  slumber  of  death  :  the  un- 
timely end  of  Hippolytus  is  a  natural  subject :  the  prevalence 
of  Dionysiac  scenes  is  explained  by  the  connection  of  Bacchic 
worship  with  the  doctrine  of  immortality.  It  is  not  so  easy 
to  see  why,  for  example,  Achilles  should  be  represented 
as  he  throws  off  his  disguise  and  leaves  the  palace  of 
Lycomedes  (p.  107),  unless  it  be  that  the  scene  recalls  his 
choice  of  a  short  but  glorious  life.  Scenes  from  the  circus, 
with  chariots  driven  by  Cupids,  must  be  taken  as  symbolical 
of  the  race  of  life  :  the  Muses  possibly  indicate  the  literary 
pursuits  of  the  dead.  A  few — but  only  a  few — sarcophagi 
have  historical  subjects,  such  as  the  battle  of  Greek  and 
Gaul  in  the  Capitoline  Museum  (p.  106),  a  strange  second- 
century  sarcophagus  in  the  Museo  delle  Terme  (p.  219),  and 
a  very  fine  example  of  third-century  art,  probably  dating 
from  the  time  of  Gordian  III  (a.d.  238-44)  in  the  Ludovisi 
collection  (p.  207).  The  sarcophagi  of  the  third  century  are 
peculiarly  valuable  to  us  in  the  absence  of  monumental 
reliefs  belonging  to  that  period.  Moreover,  they  illustrate 
the  insensible  transition  which  leads  from  Roman  to 
Early  Christian  Art  (see  Christian  Rome^  p.  53  sqq).  On 
the  Christian  sarcophagi  the  cycle  of  Biblical  subjects  takes 
the  place  of  that  of  Greek  mythology  :  the  symbolical  mean- 
ing of  the  scenes  does  not  always  lie  on  the  surface  (as  in 
the  case  of  the  Pagan  sarcophagi) ;  and  the  artistic  principles 
are  the  same  in  both. 


IV 

THE   FORUM 

T'^  I  ^HE  hollow  between  the  Palatine,  the  Capitol,  and  the 
L  X  spurs  of  the  eastern  hills  was  the  natural  centre  of 
intercourse  between  the  communities  which  occupied  the 
heights ;  but  until  it  had  been  drained,  its  marshy  nature 
rendered  it  unfit  to  play  the  part  for  which  it  was 
destined.  Tradition  ascribed  to  Tarquinius  Superbus,  the 
last  Etruscan  king  of  Rome,  the  construction  of  the  Great 
Sewer  (cloaca  maxima),  which  may  still  be  traced  from  the 
Forum  of  Nerva  (p.  155)  to  its  outflow  into  the  Tiber 
(p.  266).  An  existing  stream  was  regulated  and  converted 
into  an  open  drain,  and  by  this  means  much  of  the  boggy 
soil  was  reclaimed.  Traces  of  the  original  marsh,  however, 
long  remained,  and  one  of  these— the  Lacus  Curtius — 
acquired  a  legendary  importance  which  caused  its  memory 
to  be  preserved.  The  Forum  proper  was,  as  it  still  is,  an 
open  space  unencumbered  by  buildings  ;  it  was  first  paved 
in  the  second  century  B.C.  At  its  N.E.  corner  was  the 
Comitium,  the  focus  and  centre  of  political  life ;  it 
was  overlooked  by  the  Senate  house  and  partly  enclosed 
by  a  platform.  These  were  traditionally  ascribed  to  Tullus 
Hostilius.  In  the  centre  of  the  platform  was  a  monument 
venerated  as  the  tomb  of  the  legendary  founder  of  Rome, 
until  in  later  times  it  was  buried  and  its  place  marked  by  a 
pavement  of  black  marble.  Hard  by  was  the  prison,  built 
according  to  tradition  by  Ancus  Martins,  which  always  re- 
mained modest  in  its  dimensions  since  imprisonment  as  a 
punishment  was  foreign  to  Roman  usage.     Overlooking  the 

42 


IV.]  THE  FORUM  43 

Comitium  was  the  precinct  of  Vulcan  with  its  rock-hewn 
altar ;  Saturn,  too,  and  his  consort,  Ops,  were  worshipped 
at  the  foot  of  the  Capitol  ;  but  the  religious  centre  of  early 
Rome  lay  at  the  opposite  extremity  of  the  Forum.  Here 
was  the  sacred  hearth  of  Vesta,  tended  in  primitive  times 
by  the  daughters  of  the  King,  whose  house,  the  Regia,  was 
close  at  hand ;  here,  too,  the  sacred  spring  of  Juturna, 


/    Temple    1;    .' 


Phocas 

DDDaaaa'-' 

Honorary        Columns 
riberius  Via       Sacra 


.0 


B  ASlLiCA 
JULIA 

Entrance 


Temple 

% 

oF 

Castor 

fi 

and 

V 

Pollux 

> 

□  Arc 


Arch  of 
gustus 


Precincf 

of 
Jufurna 


Modem  Streets 


THE    FORUM     ROMANUM. 


from  which  the  Vestals  drew  water  for  ritual  use.  From 
the  northern  gate  of  the  Palatine  issued  the  Sacred  Way, 
which,  descending  the  slopes  of  the  Velia,  passed  between 
the  Regia  and  the  shrine  of  Vesta,  and  was  merged  in  the 
Forum. 

To  the  early  days  of  the  Republic  belong  two  temples, 
which  after  many  restorations  still  present  important  re- 
mains of  their  former  grandeur— that  of  Saturn  at  the  feet  of 


44  THE  FORUM  [iv. 

the  Capitol  built  in  497  B.C.,  and  that  of  Castor  and  Pollux 

— the  "Castores,"  as  the  Romans  called  the  Heavenly 
Twins — hard  by  the  spring  of  Juturna,  at  which  they  were 
said  to  have  watered  their  milk-white  steeds  when  they 
brought  the  news  of  the  victory  of  Lake  Regillus  to  Rome 
(496  B.C.).  In  366  B.C.  the  close  of  the  long  struggle 
between  patricians  and  plebeians  was  signalised  by  the 
erection  of  a  temple  of  Concord  on  the  slope  of  the  Capitol 
overlooking  the  Comitium  ;  and  the  subjugation  of  the 
Latins  in  338  B.C.  by  the  Consul  Gains  Maenius  was  com- 
memorated not  only  by  the  adornment  of  the  speaker's 
platform  with  the  beaks  of  the  captured  ships,  whence  it 
took  the  name  of  "the  Rostra,"  but  by  the  erection  in  the 
Comitium  of  the  "  column  of  Masnius,"  a  monument  which 
received  its  counterpart  in  260  B.C.,  when  Gains  Duilius,  the 
first  admiral  of  the  Roman  fleet,  was  allowed  to  set  up  the 
Columna  Rostrata^  a  restoration  of  which,  together  with 
the  inscription  re-engraved  under  the  Early  Empire,  may 
be  seen  in  the  Palazzo  dei  Conservatori  (p.  132).  The 
Forum  was  by  now  not  so  much  a  market=place  as  a 
business  centre.  On  either  side  of  the  piazza  were  rows 
of  tabernce^  used  by  bankers  and  money-changers,  and 
above  .them  were  galleries,  likewise  ascribed  to  the  Maenius 
already  mentioned,  from  which  a  crowd  of  spectators  could 
watch  the  public  or  private  games  celebrated  in  the  Forum 
itself. 

The  transformation  of  Rome  under  Greek  influence 
which  belongs  to  the  second  century  B.C.  (p.  9)  left  its 
mark  upon  the  Forum.  Strangely  enough,  it  was  Cato  the 
Elder,  who,  in  spite  of  his  antipathy  towards  Greek  culture, 
built  (in  185  B.C.)  the  first  of  the  basilicce^  or  Public  Halls, 
which  were  to  become  so  conspicuous  a  feature  of  the 
Forum.  The  Basilica  Porcia,  as  it  was  called,  was  at  the 
foot  of  the  Arx,  i.e.  at  the  N.W.  corner  of  the  Forum.  In 
179  B.C.  the  censors,  M.  y^^.milius  Lepidus  and  M.  Fulvius 
Nobilior,  built  a  second  Basilica  on  the  N.  side  of  the 
piazza,  and  nine  years  later  Tiberius  Sempronius  Gracchus 
added  a  third  on  the  southern  side. 


IV.]  THE   FORUM  45 

In  145  B.C.  the  meetings  of  the  Legislative  Assembly  of 
the  people  {comitia  tribufd)  were  transferred,  at  the  instance 
of  the  tribune,  C.  Licinius  Crassus,  from  the  Comitium  to 
the  larger  area  of  the  Forum,  and  henceforward  the 
speakers  who  mounted  the  Rostra  turned  their  backs 
upon  the  Senate-house  in  order  to  face  the  multitude. 
Then  the  Forum  became  the  scene  of  the  fierce  political 
strife  which  from  the  time  of  the  Gracchi  to  the  establish- 
ment of  the  Empire,  raged  without  intermission.  In 
121  B.C.,  after  the  fall  of  Gaius  Gracchus,  the  consul, 
L.  Opimius,  rebuilt  the  Temple  of  Concord,  and  Q.  Fabius 
Maximus,  the  conqueror  of  the  Allobroges  in  S.  Gaul,  set 
up  a  monumental  archway  close  to  the  Regia,  where  the 
Sacred  Way  entered  the  Forum.  Twice  during  the 
struggles  of  the  succeeding  century  fire  made  havoc  of  its 
buildings.  In  83  B.C.  the  Senate-house  was  destroyed  and 
rebuilt  by  Sulla,  and  a  few  years  later  the  Tabularium  with 
its  monumental  arcade  was  built  by  Q.  Lutatius  Catulus. 
In  52  B.C.,  when  the  body  of  Clodius  was  burnt  in  the 
Comitium  by  the  mob,  the  Senate-house  once  more 
perished  in  the  flames  and  was  rebuilt  by  Faustus  Sulla, 
the  son  of  the  Dictator. 

To  Julius  Caesar  we  must  trace  the  transformation  by 
which  the  Forum  received  its  present  orientation  and  aspect. 
Even  while  campaigning  in  Gaul  his  brain  conceived 
the  plan  of  rebuilding  the  basilicas  to  N.  and  S,,  trans- 
ferring the  seat  of  the  popular  assembly  to  the  Campus 
Martins  and  building  a  second  Forum  to  connect  the  two. 
The  Rostra  was  to  be  moved  to  the  western  extremity  of 
the  Forum  and  placed  at  the  foot  of  the  Capitol,  and  a  new 
Senate  House  was  to  be  built.  These  plans  were  only 
partly  carried  out  in  the  Dictator's  lifetime,  but  carried  to 
completion  by  Augustus.  The  Basilica  and  Forum  which 
bore  the  Julian  name  were  dedicated,  though  unfinished, 
in  46  B.C. ;  the  Basilica  i^milia — on  the  northern  side  of  the 
Forum — was  not  dedicated  until  29  B.C.  Augustus  rebuilt 
the  Senate  House,  raised  the  level  of  the  Forum  throughout, 
and   set  up  a  temple   to  the  deified  Julius  at   its  eastern 


1 


/ 


46  THE  FORUM  [iv. 

extremity,  which  faced  the  new  Rostra,  and  had  its  facade 
adorned  in  the  same  manner.  The  temples  of  Saturn, 
Concord,  and  the  Castores  were  restored  under  his  auspices, 
and  a  triumphal  arch  commemorating  the  restoration  of 
the  standards  taken  by  the  Parthians  from  Crassus  was 
erected  on  the  Una  of  the  Sacred  Way. 

Later  emperors  added  but  little  to  the  adornment  of 
the  Forum,  The  temple  built  by  Tiberius  in  honour  of 
Augustus  was  hidden  by  that  of  the  Castores,  and  the 
only  sanctuary  added  to  those  immediately  adjoining  the 
Forum  was  the  temple  of  Vespasian  and  Titus,  which 
marked  the  central  portion  of  the  Tabularium.  Two 
triumphal  arches  were  built  at  the  foot  of  the  Capitol — to 
the  west  that  of  Tiberius,  of  which  only  the  foundations 
remain  ;  to  the  east  that  of  Septimius  Severus. 

In  A.D.  283-4  a  great  conflagration  once  more  devastated 
the  Forum,  and  Diocletian  thereafter  finally  rebuilt  the 
Senate  House  in  the  form  which,  as  the  church  of  S. 
Adriano,  still  preserves.  The  bases  of  the  columns,  once 
crowned  with  honorary  statues,  which  stand  in  front  of  the 
Basilica  Julia,  belong  to  the  same  period ;  the  column  of 
Phocas  is  later  by  some  three  centuries.  By  this  time  the 
era  of  destruction  had  already  begun.] 

Descending  from  the  Capitol  by  the  Via  dell'  Arco  di 
Settimio  Severo  (to  the  east  of  the  Palazzo  del  Senatore)  we 
find  ourselves  opposite  to  the  arch  of  Septimius  Severus 
on  the  road  which  skirts  the  northern  edge  of  the  Forum. 
Immediately  to  the  L.  is  the  church  of  S.  Giuseppe  dei 
Falegnami  (or  S.  Pietro  in  Carcere).  Below  this  church  are 
the  remains  of  the  Career  or  prison,  the  building  of  which 
was  ascribed  by  the  Romans  to  Ancus  Marcius.  Christian 
tradition  recognises  in  it  the  place  of  confinement  of  SS. 
Peter  and  Paul.  From  the  portico  of  the  church  we  can  see 
the  doorway  of  the  prison,  with  an  inscription  set  up  by  C. 
Vibius  Rufinus  and  M.  Cocceius  Nerva  (grandfather  of  the 
Emperor  Nerva),  consuls  under  Tiberius.  From  the  sacristy 
we  descend  by  a  modern  staircase  to  a  vaulted  chamber 
built   of  tufa  (with  some  blocks   of  travertine)  ;  this  is  the 


IV.]  THE  FORUM  47 

only  part  of  the  prison  now  accessible.  Another  staircase 
leads  to  the  Tullianum,  at  a  still  lower  level,  which  was 
only  entered  in  ancient  times  by  a  hole  in  the  roof.  The 
name  means  "well-house"  (from  ^u//us  =  spring),  and  there 
is  in  fact  a  spring  of  water  in  its  floor.  The  chamber  has 
the  shape  of  a  horseshoe,  and  was  originally  roofed  with  a 
corbelled  domical  vault,  resembling  such  primitive  work  as 
the  so-called  "Treasury  of  Atreus"  and  other  graves  at 
Mycenae.  At  a  later  date  the  upper  portion  of  this  cupola 
was  removed,  and  replaced  by  a  flat  roof.  The  Tullianum 
was  used  as  a  place  of  execution.  Here  Jugurtha  and 
Vercingetorix  were  put  to  death  after  being  led  in  triumph  ; 
here,  too,  the  Catilinarian  conspirators  were  strangled  by 
Cicero's  orders.  The  flight  of  steps  leading  from  the 
prison  to  the  Capitol  takes  the  place  of  the  5calae 
Gemoniae,  or  **  Stairway  of  Sighs,'*  where  the  bodies  of 
criminals  were  exposed  before  they  were  drawn  with  a  hook 
to  the  Tiber  and  cast  into  the  river.  Such  was  the  fate 
which  befel  Sejanus  and  not  a  few  of  the  emperors. 

Farther  to  the  L.  are  the  churches  of  S.  Martina  and  S. 
Adriano,  between  which  the  Via  Bonella  now  runs.  Until 
the  sixteenth  century  they  formed  a  single  building,  which 
included  the  Curia  or  Senate  House  (S.  Adriano — see  below, 
p.  51),  the  Secretarium  Senatus  (S.  Martina),  and  the 
Atrium  Minervae,  or  '  Court  of  Minerva,'  a  courtyard  sur- 
rounded by  porticos,  which  took  its  name  from  a  chapel 
dedicated  to  Minerva  by  Domitian. 

Turning  to  the  R.  we  pass  in  front  of  the  Tabularium,  or 
Public  Record  Office,  built  by  Q.  Lutatius  Catulus,  the 
Consul  of  78  B.C.,  and  leader-  of  the  Conservative  or 
"Optimate"  party.  It  is  easy  to  distinguish  the  original 
building  with  its  massive  wall  of  sperone — the  finest  example 
of  Republican  building — from  the  upper  stories  partly  of 
mediaeval  construction,  partly  the  work  of  Michel  Angelo, 
which  transformed  it  into  the  "  Palazzo  del  Senatore."  All 
the  bays  of  the  arcade  which  overlooked  the  Forum  have 
been  blocked  save  one,  which  is  worthy  of  attention  as 
illustrating  the  economy  in  the  use  of  travertine  practised 


48  THE  FORUM  [iv. 

by  Roman  builders  under  the  Republic.  The  columns  are 
oi  sperone^  the  capitals  and  architraves  of  the  more  precious 
material.  The  Tabularium  is  entered  from  the  Capitol,  and 
the  interior  is  described  on  p.  149  f. 

Between  the  Tabularium  and  the  modern  road  we  see 
first  the  concrete  foundations  of  the  Temple  of  Concord, 
built  by  M.  Furius  Camillus  in  366  B.C.,  on  the  conclusion 
of  the  struggle  between  the  orders  and  the  admission  of 
plebeians  to  the  consulship,  restored  by  L.  Opimius  in  121 
B.C.,  and  again  rebuilt  by  Tiberius  in  the  reign  of  Augustus 
(a.d.  7-10).  A  still  later  restoration  was  commemorated  by 
an  inscription  now  lost.  As  rebuilt  by  Tiberius,  the  temple 
was  oblong  in  form,  the  breadth  being  almost  double  of  the 
depth  ;  in  the  middle  of  the  front  was  a  portico  approached 
by  a  flight  of  steps.  Tiberius  filled  the  temple  with  master- 
pieces of  Greek  sculpture  and  painting.  Its  walls  and 
pavement  were  decorated  with  costly  marbles,  some 
remains  of  which  were  found  in  18 17.  The  threshold,  which 
is  still  preserved,  was  formed  by  enormous  blocks  of 
portasanta.  A  piece  of  the  cornice  may  be  seen  in  the  Tabul- 
arium. Some  of  the  richly  ornamental  column-bases  are  in 
the  Museo  Capitolino,  and  two  capitals  in  the  Palazzo  dei 
Conservatori. 

Next  to  the  temple  of  Concord  was  that  of  Vespasian 
and  Titus,  erected  in  a.d.  80.  The  base  upon  which  the 
statues  of  the  deified  emperors  stood  may  be  seen  at  the 
back  of  the  building.  The  three  columns  still  standing,  as 
well  as  the  richly  decorated  frieze  (adorned  with  bucrania 
and  sacrificial  instruments)  and  cornice,  doubtless  belong  to 
the  original  temple,  though  the  inscription  partly  preserved 
on  the  entablature  and  copied  when  still  complete  by  a 
mediaeval  traveller  records  that  the  temple  was  restored  by 
Septimius  Severus  and  Caracalla. 

In  the  angle  formed  by  the  Tabularium  and  the  ascent  to 
the  Capitol,  on  the  line  of  the  ancient  Clivus  Capitolinus,  is 
a  portico  of  cipoUino  columns  (those  of  travertine  are  the 
work  of  a  modern  restorer)  with  figured  capitals  represent- 
ing  trophies.     A   series   of  small   chambers    open   on   the 


IV.]  THE  FORUM  49 

colonnade.  These  were,  no  doubt,  the  shrines  of  the  twelve 
Olympian  gods,  for  the  building  is  identified  by  an  in- 
scription on  the  architrave  as  the  Porticus  Deoruin  Consen- 
tiiim^  or  colonnade  of  the  assembled  gods,  whose  statues 
of  gilded  bronze  are  mentioned  by  Varro.  The  building  was 
restored  in  the  fourth  century  A.D.  by  Vettius  Agorius 
Prastextatus,  one  of  the  latest  champions  of  expiring  pagan- 
ism. Beneath  it  are  seven  chambers  {tabernae)  opening  on 
to  the  narrow  passage  between  the  portico  and  the  temple 
of  Vespasian.  Close  to  the  W.  end  of  the  passage  is  a 
doorway  in  the  ground  floor  of  the  Tabularium  which  was 
blocked  up  by  the  building  of  the  temple.  Notice  the  use  of 
travertine  for  the  flat  arch  which  takes  the  place  of  a 
Imtel. 

On  the  opposite  side  of  the  road  is  the  lofty  substructure 
of  the  Temple  of  Saturn.  The  eight  columns  of  red  and 
grey  granite  still  standing  belong  to  a  late  restoration,  as 
the  inscription  on  the  architrave  records.  The  work  was 
carelessly  done  :  the  bases  of  the  columns  are  irregular  in 
size,  and  one  of  the  columns  (no  doubt  taken  from  some 
other  building)  is  inverted.  The  temple  was  originally  built 
in  498  B.C.,  and  restored  in  42  B.C.  by  L.  Munatius  Plancus, 
to  whose  building  the  high  podium  of  travertine  seems  to 
belong.  In  its  vaults  was  housed  the  public  treasury  of 
Rome,  or  aerarium  Saiurni.  This  was  rifled  by  Caesar  at 
the  commencement  of  the  Civil  War,  and  found  to  contain 
15,000  gold  and  30,000  silver  ingots  and  30,000,000  sesterces 
(;{^3oo,ooo)  of  coined  money. 

Turning  to  the  L.  we  soon  reach  the  entrance  to  the 
excavations,  and  descending  the  slope  enter  the  Basilica 
Julia,  begun  by  Juhus  Caesar  and  completed  by  Augustus, 
who  was  forced  to  rebuild  it  after  a  fire,  and  dedicated  the 
restored  structure  in  A.D.  12  to  the  memory  of  his  grandsons, 
Gaius  and  Lucius  Csesar.  It  was  again  restored  by 
Diocletian  after  the  great  fire  of  A.D.  283-4.  The  rows 
of  dwarf  brick  piers,  which  have  been  set  up  in  modern 
times,  indicate  clearly  enough  the  ground  plan  of  the  build- 
ing.     It  had   a   long   central    hall,   measuring    82    by    18 


so  THE  FORUM  [iv. 

metres,  surrounded  by  a  corridor  and  galleries  opening 
on  to  the  nave  by  a  two-storeyed  arcade,  and  lit  by  a 
clerestory.  To  the  S.  there  was  an  outer  corridor 
bordered  by  a  row  of  chambers  {tabernae)  used  by  money- 
changers ;  on  the  N.  the  Basilica  was  approached  from 
the  Forum  by  a  flight  of  steps  and  a  portico  with  an  arcade 
of  two  storeys.  One  of  the  lower  piers  has  been  restored 
in  travertine,  with  an  engaged  half-column,  in  recent  times. 
The  aisles  and  galleries  were  vaulted  and  decorated  in 
stucco  ;  some  fragments  of  this  are  preserved  at  the  S.W. 
corner,  where  the  ancient  piers  have  been  reinforced  with 
modern  brickwork.  The  nave  was  paved  with  coloured 
marbles — giallo  -antico^  affricano  and  pavonazzetto—  of  which 
some  fragmentary  slabs  remain  ;  the  aisles  had  a  pavement 
of  white  marble,  upon  which  were  scratched  boards  for 
games  {tabulae  liisoriae)  with  inscriptions,  such  as  vinces 
gaudes  perdes  plangis^  "  the  winner's  joy  the  loser's  tears," 
and  the  like. 

Close  to  the  restored  pier  of  the  portico  will  be  seen  two 
pedestals  bearing  the  name  of  Gabinius  Vettius  Probianus, 
city-prefect,  iji  A.D.  416,  who  repaired  the  damage  done  to 
the  Basilica  by  the  Goths  under  Alaric,  and  beside  it  upon 
them  rest  the  bases  of  statues  described  as  "  the  work  of 
Polyclitus"  and  "the  work  of  Timarchus."  As  to  such 
inscriptions  compare  what  is  said  on  p.  196  about  the 
Dioscuri  of  Monte  Cavallo. 

The  Basilica  Julia  served  not  only  as  an  exchange  and 
a  promenade  for  loungers,  but  also  as  a  law  court,  where 
the  centumviri^  a  jury  of  one  hundred,  usually  divided  into 
four  panels  for  the  trial  of  civil  causes,  held  its  sittings. 
Pliny  the  Younger  mentions  a  cause  celebre  in  which  he 
pleaded  before  a  plenary  session  of  the  four  panels,  at 
which  not  only  the  nave  of  the  Basilica,  but  also  the 
galleries,  were  crowded  with  spectators. 

In  the  Middle  Ages  the  ruins  of  the  Basilica  were  used 
as  a  rope-walk,  and  a  small  church  built  at  the  western  end 
was  called  S.  Maria  in  Cannapara  ("  in  the  rope-walk '')  ; 
some  remains  of  this  church  may  be  seen. 


IV.]  THE  FORUM  51 

At  either  end  of  the  Basilica  we  can  trace  the  ancient 
streets  by  which  the  Forum  was  approached  from  the  S.W. — 
to  the  W.  the  Vicus  Jugarius  or  "street  of  the  yoke- 
makers,"  which  followed  the  line  of  the  modern  Via  della 
Consolazione  at  the  foot  of  the  Capitol,  to  the  E.  the  Vicus 
Tuscus  or  "  street  of  the  Etruscans  ; ''  this  latter  passed 
between  the  Basilica  Julia  and  the  temple  of  Castor  and 
Pollux,  and  continued  beneath  the  slope  of  the  Palatine  to 
the  cattle-market. 

Along  the  front  of  the  Basilica  runs  the  Sacred  Way,  paved 
with  polygonal  blocks  of  lava.  Excavations  in  the  centre 
of  the  road  have  brought  to  light  a  series  of  rectangular 
pits  lined  with  slabs  of  tufa.  The  bottom  of  these  was  left 
open,  but  the  top  was  closed  with  a  lid.  Such  pits  have 
also  been  found  in  front  of  the  Rostra,  and  in  the  line 
whose  centre  is  occupied  by  the  temple  of  Julius  Caesar ; 
others,  again,  of  earlier  date  and  with  a  different  orienta- 
tion in  the  Comitium.  Comm.  Boni  beheves  that  they  are 
"augural  pits,"  into  which  offerings  were  cast  when  the 
lines  of  the  Comitium  and  Forum  were  marked  out,  so  that 
those  which  we  see  in  front  of  the  Basilica  Julia  mark  the 
complete  change  in  orientation  due  to  the  execution  of  the 
Dictator's  plan  (p.  45). 

The  seven  unsightly  brick  foundations  which  stand  on 
the  edge  of  the  Sacred  Way  were  originally  faced  with 
marble  and  crowned  with  columns,  two  of  which — one  of 
pavo7iazzetto^  the  other  of  grey  granite — were  re-erected  in 
1899.  They  date  from  the  time  of  Diocletian,  and  no  doubt 
supported  honorary  statues.  Passing  the  westernmost  of 
these  we  cross,  the  Forum,  proceed  directly  to  its  N.W. 
corner,  and  approach  the  Comitium,  originally  the  meet- 
ing place  of  all  assemblies  of  the  Roman  people,  but  in  later 
times  only  used  for  those  of  the  thirty  lictors  who  repre- 
sented the  Coiniiia  curiata^  which  transacted  certain  formal 
business  and  passed  Private  Acts,  such  as  adoptions.  The 
church  of  S.  Adriano,  which  overlooks  it  on  the  north, 
is  the  ancient  Curia  or  Senate-house,  rebuilt  by  Diocletian, 
and    converted    into    a    Christian   church    in    the    seventh 


52  THE   FORUM  [iv. 

century  A.D.  The  fagade,  which  now  displays  bare  brick- 
work, was  once  faced  with  marble  slabs  in  the  lower  and 
stucco  in  the  upper  portion  ;  some  fragments  of  the  latter 
may  be  seen  just  below  the  cornice. 

We  can  see  at  a  glance  how  the  accumulation  of  rubbish 
has  gradually  raised  the  level  of  the  Forum.  In  front  of 
the  building  is  the  concrete  core  of  a  flight  of  steps  which 
led  to  the  original  doorway,  which  has  been  filled  up  with 
fragments  of  marble,  porphyry  columns,  and  inscriptions. 
On  either  side  may  be  seen  graves,  one  of  which  contains 
a  skeleton,  excavated  in  the  brickwork  after  the  raising  of 
the  ground  level.  The  modern  doorway,  whose  threshold 
takes  the  place  of  the  lintel  of  the  original  entrance,  belongs 
to  the  seventeenth  century,  when  the  ancient  bronze  doors 
were  removed  to  the  principal  entrance  of  the  Basilica  of 
St.  John  Lateran,  which  they  still  adorn. 

The  enlargement  of  the  Senate-house  by  Julius  C^nesar 
considerably  reduced  the  size  of  the  Comitium.  It  has  been 
excavated  in  several  places  down  to  the  virgin  soil,  and 
something  of  its  earlier  history  can  be  traced.  Opposite  to 
the  door  of  the  Senate-house  is  a  circular  marble  base, 
which  once  supported  a  fountain,  resting  partly  on  the  strip 
of  marble  pavement  immediately  in  front  of  the  Senate- 
house,  partly  on  the  travertine  paving  of  the  Comitium, 
which  dates  from  the  later  Empire.  If  we  stand  here  and 
look  towards  the  Senate-house  we  see  beneath  our  feet 
a  small  piece  of  pavement  made  of  neatly  squared  slabs 
of  travertine,  whose  orientation  coincides  almost  exactly 
with  the  cardinal  points  of  the  compass  ;  this  belongs  to  the 
Republican  Comitium  in  its  latest  period.  Below  this 
again  will  be  seen  some  remains  of  tufa  steps  leading  down 
to  an  early  pavement  made  of  broken  tufa  ;  these  steps, 
which  must  belong  to  a  very  early  period,  are  parallel  with 
the  front  of  the  Senate-house.  If  we  now  turn  our  backs  to 
Senate-house  we  see  immediately  to  our  right  a  pedestal 
originally  set  up  in  the  reign  of  Antoninus  Pius  (a.d.  154), 
but  re-dedicated  in  the  name  of  Maxentius  (the  opponent  of 
Constantine  at  the  battle  of  the  Milvian  Bridge)  to  "  Father 


M 


IV.]  T//E  FORUM  53 

Mars  the  Unconquered"  and  the  founder  of  his  "Eternal 
City"  on  April  21,  the  birthday  of  Rome.  Below  us  on  our 
left  are  the  remains  of  a  flight  of  tufa  steps  which  led  up 
to  a  raised  platform  ;  they  are  interrupted  by  lozenge-shaped 
"  augural  pits,"  resembling  those  which  we  saw  beside  the 
Sacred  Way.  Returning  to  the  line  of  the  street  we  see  the 
retaining  wall  of  this  platform  in  not  quite  regular  opus 
quadratum  made  of  narrow  blocks  of  tufa,  and  turning  to 
the  right  approach  a  zinc  roof  which  covers  a  pavement  of 
black  marble,  with  a  rude  curb  of  white  slabs  on  the  level 
of  the  late  pavement.  It  certainly  belongs  in  its  present 
form  to  late  Imperial  times,  and  was  perhaps  restored  by 
Maxentius,  but  we  cannot  fail  to  connect  it  with  the  Black 
Stone  {lapis  niger)  mentioned  by  the  Roman  antiquarians 
from  the  time  of  Varro  onwards,  which  was  said  to  mark 
the  site  of  the  tomb  of  Romulus,  or,  according  to  others, 
of  Faustulus  the  shepherd,  who  brought  up  the  twin 
founders  of  Rome.  Beneath  the  black  pavement  a  remark- 
able group  of  monuments  was  discovered  in  1901.  To  the 
left  we  see  two  parallel  bases  of  tufa  with  a  carved  mould- 
ing, between  which  is  a  small  block  of  tufa  resembling  an 
altar.  Behind  these  is  a  rectangular  tufa  platform.  We 
are  told  by  ancient  authorities  that  two  lions  guarded  the 
tomb  of  Romulus,  and  that  this  tomb  was  "on,"  "before," 
or  "behind"  the  Rostra.  It  is  natural  to  suppose  that  the 
parallel  bases  are  those  which  supported  the  lions,  and  that 
the  platform  is  part  of  the  Rostra.  Across  the  front  of  this 
group  of  monuments  runs  the  lowest  course  of  the  flight 
of  tufa  steps  already  mentioned,  and  immediately  to  the 
right  of  the  "  tomb  of  Romulus  "  we  see  on  a  second  step 
a  truncated  conical  column  of  yellow  tufa  ;  behind  this  is 
the  lower  part  of  a  pyramidal  pillar  with  bevelled  edges, 
bearing  an  inscription  engraved  in  extremely  ancient  char- 
acters, probably  of  the  sixth  or  fifth  century  B.C.  The 
inscription  runs  in  vertical  lines,  alternately  from  top  to 
bottom  and  bottom  to  top,^  so  that  only  the  beginnings  and 

^  This  was  termed  in  Greek  bousirophedon  ;  the  word  denotes 
e  movement  of  an  ox  ploughing  in  alternate  furrows. 


54  THE  FORUM  [iv. 

ends  of  certain  lines  can  be  read.  Its  meaning  is  quite 
obscure,  but  it  certainly  mentions  the  "King"  (PECEI  = 
regi\  his  kalator  or  "summoner,''  and  his  "carriages," 
iouxinenta.  As  the  date  of  the  inscription  is  undetermined, 
we  cannot  tell  whether  the  King  is  one  of  the  early  rulers  of 
Rome,  or  the  rex  sacrorufn,  who  succeeded  to  his  religious 
functions.  Certain  ceremonies  were,  we  know,  performed 
by  the  latter  in  the  Comitium  in  historical  times,  and  it 
is  possible  that  the  inscription  refers  to  them. 

The  monuments  just  described  were  buried  under  a  mass 
of  sacrificial  remains  and  votive  offerings,  ranging  in  date 
from  the  sixth  to  the  first  century  B.C.,  mixed  up  in  the 
utmost  confusion.  It  follows  that  the  materials  were  not 
deposited  on  the  spot  until  the  first  century  B.C.,  when  (as  we 
must  infer  from  Varro's  statement)  the  Black  Stone  was  laid 
to  mark  the  site.  Julius  Cassar,  it  would  seem,  restored  the 
pavement  and  probably  raised  its  level :  fragments  of  the 
marble  of  which  it  was  made  have  been  found  in  the  under- 
ground corridors  to  be  mentioned  presently.  The  partial 
destruction  of  the  monuments  underlying  the  Black  Stone 
must  date  from  the  time  of  their  burial  ;  and  the  difficulty 
of  attributing  such  an  act  to  the  Romans  of  the  first  century 
has  given  rise  to  various  theories — e.g.  that  the  havoc  was 
wrought  by 'the  Gauls  in  B.C.  390 ;  but  the  supposition  can 
hardly  be  reconciled  with  the  conditions  of  the  votive 
deposit,  and  the  lion-tomb  itself  seems  to  be  later  than  that 
date. 

Leaving  this  group  of  monuments,  we  proceed  to  the 
N.W.,  observing  the  curved  drain  walled  with  opus  reii- 
culatum  which  marks  the  boundary  of  the  Republican 
cofnitium.  We  may,  perhaps,  conceive  of  the  original 
boundary  as  a  complete  semicircle  (in  the  centre  of  which 
would  be  the  Rostra),  and  thus  understand  what  ancient 
writers  mean  when  they  speak  of  the  "  horns  of  the  Com- 
itium," marked  by  the  statues  of  Pythagoras  and  Alci- 
biades,  which  were  set  up  in  obedience  to  an  oracle  of  the 
Delphic  priestess  as  "the  wisest  and  bravest  of  the 
Greeks." 


IV.]  THE   FORUM  55 

In  the  space  immediately  to  the  S.  01  the  Black  Stone 
are  the  remains  of  monuments  of  the  later  Empire.  The  most 
noticeable  relic  is  a  square  base  of  white  marble  adorned  on 
all  sides  with  reliefs  carved  in  the  decadent  style  of  the  early 
fourth  century  a.d.  The  date  is  fixed  by  the  inscription  on  the 
front — Ccesarum  decennalia  feliciter — which  refers  to  the  cele- 
brations of  A.D.  303,  when  the  "  Ctesars "  Constantius  and 
Galerius  completed  the  tenth,  and  the  "Augusti"  Diocle- 
tian and  Maximian  the  twentieth,  year  of  their  rule.  The 
corresponding  pedestal  set  up  in  honour  of  Diocletian  and 
his  colleague  was  found  about  1500,  but  has  been  lost. 
Both  originally  stood  in  front  of  the  Senate-house.  The 
sculptures  on  the  back  and  sides  of  the  pedestal  of  the 
"  Caesars  "  are  interesting  as  examples  of  the  decline  of  art. 
They  represent  an  Emperor  sacrificing  to  Rome  and  Mars, 
a  civil  procession,  and  the  pig,  sheep,  and  ox  of  the  Suove- 
taurilia  being  led  to  sacrifice.  Note  these  last  and  compare 
them  with  the  Trajanic  reliefs  presently  to  be  described. 

Between  this  base  and  the  Black  Stone  are  fragments  of 
marble  blocks  which  belonged  to  monuments  set  up  in 
honour  of  Stilicho,  the  general  of  Honorius  and  opponent 
of  Alaric.  The  name  of  Stilicho  was  erased  after  his  fall 
and  murder  in  A.D.  408. 

Overlooking  the  Comitium  on  the  W.  was  the  Area 
Volcani  (or  Volcanal),  i.e.  the  precinct  sacred  to  Volcanus, 
the  god  of  destroying  fire.  Here,  according  to  legend, 
Romulus  convoked  the  Senate  of  the  Fathers  ;  here,  too, 
before  the  building  of  the  Rostra,  magistrates  addressed  the 
assembled  people.  The  virgin  rock  is  here  cut  into  rough 
steps,  and  a  large  platform  or  altar  has  been  hewn  in  the 
tufa,  covered  with  cement  and  painted  red.  It  shows  signs 
of  having  been  damaged  and  restored.  In  order  to  reach 
this  platform  we  pass  through  the  Arch  of  Septimius 
Severus,  built  in  a.d.  203  in  honour  of  that  Emperor  and 
his  sons  Caracalla  and  Geta.  The  inscription  on  the  attic 
can  be  read  from  the  matrices,  although  the  bronze  lettering 
has  disappeared.  It  will  be  seen  that  the  last  two  letters  of 
the  third  and  the  whole  of  the  fourth  line  are  cut  deeper  than  ■ 


56  THE  FORUM  [iv. 

the  rest  and  have  taken  the  place  of  other  words  which  have 
been  chiselled  out.  These  words  gave  the  name  and  title 
of  Geta,  the  younger  son  of  Severus,  who  was  murdered  by 
his  elder  brother  Caracalla  in  a.d.  211  ;  they  were  then 
erased  and  the  titles  "Father  of  the  fatherland,  best 
and  bravest  of  princes  "  added  to  those  of  Severus  and 
Caracalla.  The  reliefs  of  the  arch,  especially  those  of  the  piers 
above  the  sidebays,  illustrate  the  decadence  of  art  after  the 
Antonine  period,  and  the  development  of  "bird's-eye  per- 
spective" (p.  184)  until  the  relief  almost  resembles  a  map. 
The  subjects  are  taken  from  the  Oriental  campaigns  of 
Severus,  who  in  a.d.  193  attacked  the  Parthian  and  Arab 
allies  of  his  rival,  Pescennius  Niger,  and  annexed  Meso- 
potamia to  the  Empire,  and  in  a.d.  198-9  invaded  Parthia 
and  captured  its  two  capitals,  Ctesiphon  and  Seleucia  ;  but 
the  interpretation  of  its  details  has  not  as  yet  been  at- 
tempted with  success.  The  reliefs  which  adorn  the  pedestals 
of  the  eight  composite  columns  which  flank  the  bays  of  the 
arch  represent  Oriental  prisoners  led  in  chains  by  Roman 
legionaries.  Like  many  other  triumphal  arches,  that  of 
Severus  was  not  intended  for  traffic  and  was  approached  by 
a  flight  of  steps  leading  to  the  central  passage  :  under  the 
later  Empire  the  level  of  the  Forum  in  front  of  the  arch  was 
lowered,  and  three  longer  flights  were  constructed  as  ap- 
proaches to  the  three  bays.  We  can  see  how  the  travertine 
foundations  of  the  arch,  which  thus  became  exposed,  were 
faced  with  marble  slabs. 

To  the  S.  of  the  arch  of  Severus  are  the  remains  of  the 
Rostra  as  rebuilt  in  Imperial  times.  The  removal  of  the 
Rostra  from  the  Comitium  to  the  Forum  was  part  of 
Juhus  Caesar's  great  scheme  of  reconstruction  ;  but  it 
was  not  carried  out  in  his  lifetime.  The  building  which 
we  now  see  consists  of  two  parts.  In  front  we  have 
a  rectangular  platform  built  of  opus  quadratum  in  tufa, 
which  has  been  restored  in  modern  times  in  order  to 
receive  the  marble  cornice  which  can  be  largely  pieced 
together  from  extant  fragments.  In  the  front  may  be 
seen  the  holes  in  which  the   ship's   prows  which   formed 


IV.]  THE   FORUM  ^ 

the  conventional  ornament  of  this  and— as  we  shall  see 
—other  platforms  were  fixed.  The  facade  was  divided  into 
compartments  by  bronze  pilasters  and  frames  ;  a  ship's  prow 
was  placed  in  the  centre  of  each  compartment  and  another 
fixed  in  the  centre  of  each  pilaster.  At  the  Northern  end  of 
the  platform  a  rudely  built  extension  will  be  noticed  ;  this  is 
partly  formed  of  architectural  members  taken  from  other 
buildings  and  roughly  hacked  into  shape.  It  dates  from 
A.D.  470,  as  an  inscription  shows,  and  was  perhaps  raised  in 
order  to  restore  the  symmetry  of  the  Forum  which  had 
been  impaired  by  the  erection  of  honorary  columns  on  its 
southern  side.  Passing  to  the  back  of  the  Rostra  we  see 
the  remains  of  the  travertine  piers  and  back  wall  of  brick 
by  which  the  platform  was  supported,  and  observe  how 
these  supports  were  strengthened  in  late  times  by  additional 
brickwork.  The  reason  of  this  was  that  the  platform  be- 
came overweighted  by  honorary  statues.  Some  idea  of  its 
appearance  is  given  by  a  bas-relief  on  the  Arch  of  Con- 
stantine,  described  on  p.  253.  Behind  the  rectangular 
platform  is  a  semicircular  structure,  faced  in  its  Northern 
half  only  with  slabs  of  porta  santa  divided  by  pilasters  of 
Affj'icano,  resting  on  a  marble  plinth  upon  whose  blocks 
letters  of  the  Greek  alphabet  are  inscribed.  These  letters 
do  not  form  a  continuous  series,  and  it  is  clear  that  the 
blocks  were  removed  from  some  other  building.  It  will  also 
be  noticed  that  at  the  angle  next  to  the  Arch  of  Severus  the 
plinth  has  been  hacked  away  in  order  to  fit  that  of  the  side- 
wall  of  the  Rostra.  The  relation  of  the  two  buildings  is 
best  explained  as  follows.  The  hemicycle  was  planned  by 
CiEsar  and  completed  by  Augustus  :  it  was  approached  (as 
may  be  seen  from  the  back)  by  a  flight  of  steps  at  the  base 
of  the  Capitol,  and  served  to  carry  the  Rostra  until  the  time 
of  the  Flavian  Emperors,  or  possibly  Trajan,  who  built  the 
rectangular  platform  adjoining  and  connected  with  it.  Until 
the  time  of  Septimius  Severus  this  was  still  approached  by 
the  curved  flight  of  steps  at  the  back :  but  when  that 
Emperor  built  his  triumphal  arch  he  unroofed  part  of  the 
platform,  forming  a  small  court  of  irregular  shape,  gave  to 


58  THE  FORUM  [iv. 

the  exposed  portion  of  the  hemicycle  its  marble  facing 
and  built  a  stairway  from  the  open  court  to  the  platform 
above. 

At  the  northern  end  of  the  hemicycle  are  the  remains  of 
a  large  circular  pedestal  in  brick-faced  concrete  ;  the  monu- 
ment which  it  bore  was  the  Umbilicus  Urbis  Romse,  or 
"  Navel  of  the  City  of  Rome,"  marking  its  ideal  centre, 
which  is  mentioned  in  the  fourth -century  descriptions.  It 
was  long  supposed  that  the  "Golden  Milestone'*  set  up 
by  Augustus,  upon  which  the  distances  from  Rome  to  the 
principal  cities  of  the  empire  were  given,  stood  at  the  other 
extremity  of  the  hemicyle,  since  it  was  known  to  have  been 
below  the  Temple  of  Saturn  :  but  no  remains  of  it  were  found 
there.  What  we  do  see  is  a  small  paved  court,  which  can  be 
identified  (by  means  of  an  inscription  discovered  in  the  six- 
teenth century  and  since  destroyed)  as  the  Schola  or  office 
of  the  curule  sediles.  It  has  been  called  the  Schola  Xa?itha, 
since  a  certain  A.  Fabius  Xanthus  was  one  of  its  builders. 

Behind  this  court  may  be  seen  a  row  of  low  arcades 
faced  with  carefully  jointed  opus  incerium — almost  regular 
enough  to  be  called  opus  reticulatum  :  the  vaulted  chambers 
under  these  arcades  have  a  pavement  of  pounded  brick. 
These  arcades  have  been  supposed  to  represent  the  Rostra 
as  first  reconstructed  accord  to  Julius  C'aesar's  plan  ;  but 
they  are  in  reality  a  viaduct  built  to  support  the  Clivus 
Capitolinus — the  winding  street  which  prolonged  the  Sacred 
Way  and  gave  access  to  the  Capitol.  Its  pavement  is  well 
preserved  below  and  in  front  of  the  Temple  of  Saturn  ;  the 
viaduct  was  probably  built  when  the  temple  was  restored 
and  enlarged  by  Plancus  (in  42  B.c). 

At  the  S.  end  of  the  arcades  are  the  foundations  of  the 
Arch  of  Tiberius,  built  to  commemorate  the  recovery  of 
the  eagles  lost  in  the  disaster  which  befell  Varus  in  a.d.  9. 
The  Sacred  Way  did  not  pass  through  the  arch,  but  curved 
slightly  to  the  N.  in  order  to  avoid  it. 

As  we  turn  eastwards  and  approach  the  centre  of  the 
Forum  we  pass  the  Column  of  Phocas,  resting  on  a 
pedestal  with  nine  steps.     This  is  the  "column  with  the 


IV.]  THE  FORUM  59 

buried  base  "  ot  Byron's  poem.  The  inscription  (discovered 
in  181 1 )  shows  that  Smaragdus,  the  "exarch"  or  governor 
of  the  Byzantine  possessions  in  Italy,  set  up  on  the  column 
a  statue  of  the  Emperor  Phocas  in  A.D.  608.  Phocas  was 
a  tyrant  of  low  origin  and  abominable  cruelty  ;  he  presented 
the  Pantheon  to  Boniface  IV  (p.  174).  The  column,  how- 
ever, existed  before  his  time,  and  was  probably  erected  in 
honour  of  Diocletian.  The  steps  of  the  pedestal  were  added 
by  Smaragdus,  and  are  made  of  materials  taken  from  the 
surrounding  buildings. 

In  the  centre  of  the  Forum  Piazza  will  be  seen  a  number 
of  apertures  giving  access  to  the  subterranean  corridors, 
which  intersect  at  right  angles,  forming  a  chess-board 
pattern.  These  are  very  carefully  finished  in  concrete 
and  tufa,  and  the  vaulted  chambers  at  the  intersections, 
in  the  roofs  of  which  are  the  openings,  contained  wooden 
frames  for  small  lifts  raised  by  pulleys,  which  were  worked 
by  windlasses  standing  in  the  corridors.  We  know  that 
Julius  Cassar  celebrated  games  in  the  Forum  and  covered 
it  with  an  awning,  and  there  can  be  little  doubt  that  the 
passages  and  trap-doors  were  used  to  raise  wild  beasts, 
gladiators,  etc.  After  Caesar's  time  games  were  no  longer 
held  in  the  Forum,  and  the  corridors  were  found  to  be 
choked  with  earth  containing  no  fragments  later  than  the 
time  of  Augustus. 

In  1903  the  ground  to  the  E.  of  the-  Column  of  Phocas 
was  explored,  and  part  of  the  pyramid  enclosing  the  base 
of  the  column  was  removed.  In  the  travertine  pavement 
were  found  incised  some  letters  (originally  filled  with 
bronze)  of  an  inscription— part  of  which  had  long  been 
exposed  but  unnoticed — giving  the  name  of  the  praetor, 
L.  N^evius  Surdinus,  who  probably  lived  under  Augustus. 
This  gave  the  clue  to  the  remains  found  in  this  part  of  the 
Forum.  The  foundations  of  walls  nearest  to  the  Column 
of  Phocas  are  those  of  the  praetor^s  tribunal,  upon  which 
the  yearly  edict  which  regulated  so  much  of  Roman  legal 
procedure  was  exposed.  In  the  unpaved  square  to  the  N. 
stood  the  statue  of  Marsyas  and  the  fig-tree  seen   in 


6o  THE  FORUM  [iv. 

the  sculptured  representations  of  the  Forum  shortly  to  be 
described.  Finally,  the  name  of  Surdinus  is  also  found  on 
the  back  of  the  relief  in  the  Palazzo  dei  Conservatori  (p.  133), 
which  shows  Mettus  Curtius  plunging  into  the  abyss  called 
the  Lacus  Curtius.  Now  to  the  E.  of  the  tribunal  is  a  piece 
of  travertine  paving  enclosed  by  a  curb  within  which  is  a 
twelve-sided  foundation  of  tufa  ;  and  this  must  clearly  be  the 
the  traditional  site  of  the  Lacus  Curtius,  originally  a  marshy 
pool,  to  which  various  legends  were  attached.  One  of  these 
told  how  Mettus  Curtius,  the  leader  of  the  Sabine  host  in 
battle  with  Romulus,  plunged  with  his  horse  and  was  rescued 
with  difficulty.  The  best-known  legend  is  that  which  tells 
how,  in  362  B.C.,  M.  Curtius  plunged  into  a  chasm  which 
suddenly  opened  in  the  Forum,  and  thus  saved  the  city  ; 
this  version  is  depicted  on  a  rehef  found  in  1553  and  pre- 
served in  the  Palazzo  dei  Conservatori.  A  more  prosaic 
story  is  that  of  Varro,  according  to  which  the  consul  of 
445  B.C.,  C.  Curtius,  placed  a  puteal  or  well-head  on  the 
spot,  in  order  to  mark  (according  to  the  usual  custom)  the 
spot  where  a  thunderbolt  had  fallen.  Such  a  well-head 
existed  in  the  time  of  Augustus,  and  offerings  of  coin  were 
yearly  placed  therein  by  the  people,  with  prayers  for  the 
welfare  of  the  Emperor. 

Near  the  Lacus  Curtius,  in  the  centre  of  the  Forum,  may 
be  seen  a  large  foundation  of  concrete,  filled  with  lumps  of 
travertine,  which  shows  very  clearly  how  such  structures 
were  raised  by  Roman  builders  (see  p.  16).  In  the  upper 
surface  are  three  travertine  sockets,  and  towards  the  eastern 
end  is  a  kind  of  box  or  cist  lined  with  slabs  of  travertine. 
This  foundation  undoubtedly  supported  the  colossal  eques> 
trian  statue  of  Domitian  described  by  the  poet  Statius. 
In  the  travertine  sockets  three  of  the  horse's  feet  were 
made  fast ;  the  fourth  was  raised.  The  statue,  which  must 
have  been  about  six  times  life-size,  was  destroyed  on  the 
death  of  Domitian.  When  the  travertine  cist  was  opened 
it  was  found  to  contain  five  very  archaic  vases,  resembling 
those  found  in  the  early  necropolis  not  far  distant  (p.  76). 
The  vases  contained  (besides  fragments  of  pitch  and  tortoise- 


IV.]  THE  FORUM  6i 

shell)  a  small  gold  nugget ;  and  Comm.  Boni  reminds  us 
that  nuggets  of  the  precious  metals  were  deposited  in  the 
foundations  of  the  Temple  of  Jupiter  Capitolinus  when  it 
was  rebuilt  by  Vespasian.  He  believes  that  vases  of  archaic 
type  continued  to  be  manufactured  for  such  purposes  even 
in  Imperial  times  ;  but  it  is  not  unlikely  that  the  vases  were 
found  in  an  early  grave  which  came  to  light  when  the 
foundation  was  laid,  and  were  retained  from  superstitious 
motives  as  near  as  might  be  to  their  place  of  discovery. 
In  the  northern  part  of  the  piazza  the  most  conspicuous 
objects  are  the  two  plutei  or  balustrades,  which  have  been 
mounted  on  brick  bases  at  the  spot  where  they  were  found. 
It  is  commonly  held,  but  is  incapable  of  proof,  that  they 
were  originally  designed  for  the  platform  of  the  Rostra,  and 
found  their  way  to  their  present  position  in  the  course  of 
the  Middle  Ages.  On  one  face  of  each  slab  are  represented 
the  three  animals — sheep,  pig,  and  ox— which  were  immo- 
lated in  the  solemn  sacrifice  of  purification  {suovetaiirilia)' 
offered  on  various  occasions.  They  are  adorned  with  fillets 
and  garlands.  On  the  opposite  faces  are  depicted  two 
scenes  with  architectural  backgrounds,  taken  from  the 
Forum  itself  That  which  is  best  preserved  shows  an  em- 
peror (whose  head  is  lost)  standing  upon  a  platform  adorned 
with  ships'  prows,  and  addressing  a  group  of  citizens.  Be- 
hind them  we  see  a  base,  supporting  (as  it  would  appear)  a 
statuary  group  formed  by  a  seated  emperor  and  a  woman 
holding  a  child  on  her  left  arm  and  leading  another.  This 
indicates  the  subject  of  the  emperor's  oration,  which  relates 
to  the  charitable  endowments  known  as  the  Alimenta^  by 
which  the  revenues  derived  from  loans  to  landowners,  se- 
cured by  mortgages,  were  applied  to  the  maintenance  of 
necessitous  children.  These  endowments  seem  to  have 
been  planned  by  Nerva,  but  the  system  was  hardly  in  work- 
ing order  before  Trajan's  reign  ;  it  seems  likely,  therefore, 
that  the  seated  statue  represents  Nerva  and  the  standing 
figure  Trajan.'  At  the  end  of  the  relief  are  seen  a  fig-tree 
and  a  figure  of  Marsyas  bearing  a  wine-skin  ;  the  back- 
ground is  formed  by  a  Basilica  and  a  Corinthian  .temple 


62  THE  FORUM  [iv. 

between  which  is  an  open  space.  On  the  extreme  L.  is  an 
archway.  The  second  relief  is  less  perfectly  preserved  :  at 
its  right-hand  extremity  we  can  just  see  the  ships'  prows, 
which  show  that  here,  too,  the  emperor  was  represented 
upon  a  platform.  The  fig-tree  and  statue  of  Marsyas  are 
also  repeated  at  the  other  end  of  the  scene,  which  is  filled 
by  a  group  of  men  bearing  large  tablets,  which  they  are 
throwing  down  in  a  pile  at  the  emperor's  feet :  these  repre- 
sent the  registers  of  taxes  due  to  the  Imperial  treasury  on 
inheritances,  which  Trajan  remitted.  Here,  again,  a  basilica 
is  the  principal  object  in  the  background  ;  to  the  R.  .of  it 
Are  seen  t\yo  temples,  between  which  is  an  arch.  There 
can  be  scarcely  any  doubt  that  the  Rostra,  the  temples  of 
Vespasian  and  Saturn,  and  the  Basilica  Julia  are  here 
represented  :  and  in  the  foreground  we  see  the  fig-tree  and 
the  statue  of  Marsyas,  which  (as  we  have  seen)  stood  near 
the  Praetor's  tribunal.  As  to  the  other  reliefs  two  views 
are  possible.  According  to  one,  the  N.  side  of  the 
Forum  is  here  shown  with  the  Rostra  and  the  Senate-house 
and  the  Basilica  .Emilia,  but  the  position  of  the  fig-tree 
and  Marsyas  would  then  be  hard  to  explain.  It  seems  better 
to  regard  the  Rostra  here  portrayed  to  be  those  which  de- 
cor'ated  the  Temple  of  Julius  Cassar  (see  below),  the 
Corinthian  building  as  the  Temple  of  the  Castores,  and  the 
BasiHca  as  the  remaining  half  of  the  Basilica  Julia,  forming 
a  continuous  scene  with  the  other  relief.  The  monument 
has  been  dated  in  the  reigns  of  Domitian  and  Hadrian,  but 
the  scenes  are  in  either  case  less  easily  explained,  and  the 
style  of  the  reliefs  accords  well  with  the  Trajanic  dating. 

Along  the  N,  side  of  the  Forum  runs  a  road  parallel 
with  the  Sacred  Way,  and  on  the  N,  edge  of  this 
may  be  seen  a  circular  foundation  with  a  marble  plinth. 
This  stands  just  above  the  junction  of  two  sewers,  one  of 
which — that  which  comes  from  the  W. — is  the  Cloaca 
Maxima  itself;  and  a  coin-type  enables  us  to  identity  the 
circular  base  as  that  of  the  sanctuary  of  Venus  Cloacina, 
the  Goddess  of  Sewers.  This  divinity  was  symbolically 
regarded  as  the  Purifier,  and  tradition  told  how  Romans 


IV.]  THE   FORUM  63 

and  Sabines  had  "purged  themselves"  of  their  enmity  and  set 
up  this  sanctuary.  No  trace  has  been  found  of  the  famous 
Temple  of  Janus,  a  passage  with  double  doors,  closed 
only  when  Rome  Was  at  peace  with  the  world,  which  cannot 
have  been  far  from  this  point. 

The  chapel  of  Cloacina  stands  at  the  foot  of  the  steps 
which  lead  up  to  the  Basilica  yCmilia,  the  history  of  which 
has  been  traced  on  page  44  f.  Like  the  Basilica  Julia,  it  had 
a  two-storeyed  arcade  opening  on  the  Forum,  but  its  plan 
was  very  different.  Immediately  behind  the  arcade  was  a 
row  of  iaberncs  or  shops  with  party-walls  of  tufa,  and  be- 
hind these  again  was  the  great  hall  of  the  Basilica,  which 
was  divided  by  three  ranges  of  columns  into  a  central  nave 
and  three  aisles,  two  on  the  N.  side  and  one  on  the 
S.  Many  fragments  of  the  columns,  which  were  of 
affricano^  as  were  also  those  of  smaller  diameter  which 
belonged  to  the  upper  galleries  of  the  aisles,  may  be  seen 
within  the  building.  The  main  entrance  was,  no  doubt, 
from  the  side  of  the  Argiletum,  a  street  which  passed 
between  the  Basilica  Emilia  and  the  Senate-house  and  led 
to  the  busy  quarter  of  the  Subura.  Through  a  hole  in  the 
floor  of  the  hall  may  be  seen  a  drain  previously  constructed 
with  blocks  of  travertine.  The  hall  is  paved  with  blocks  of 
giallo  antico,  qffricafto,  cipolli?io^  pavonazzetto^  and  porta- 
sania^  and  shows  traces  of  fire  ;  in  one  place  a  heap  of  molten 
bronze  coins  may  be  seen,  some  of  which  can  be  identified 
and  belong  to  the  fourth  century  A.D.,  so  that  the  Basilica 
may  have  been  damaged  in  the  sack  of  Alaric  (a.d.  410). 
In  any  case,  it  was  restored  in  the  fifth  century,  when  the 
fagade  was  completely  altered.  In  place  of  the  lower  storey 
of  the  arcade,  with  its  massive  travertine  piers,  was  set  up 
a  row  of  granite  columns  at  much  shorter  intervals,  resting 
on  rudely  worked  bases  :  three  of  these  may  be  seen  to- 
wards the  eastern  end  of  the  Basilica,  where  the  portico 
had  a  projecting  wing.  In  the  Dark  Ages  this  end  of  the 
building  was  converted  into  a  dwelling-house,  whose 
chambers  were  paved  with  opus  Alexandrinmn  of  giallo 
antico  and  red  and  green  porphyry.     In  some  of  these  are 


64  THE  FORUM  [iv. 

now  preserved  architectural  fragments  which  belonged  to 
the  Basilica  in  its  earlier  form,  amongst  which  are  two 
beautiful  door-jambs  worked  with  acanthus  foliage  in  low 
relief. 

Facing  the  easterly  projecting  wing  of  the  Basilica 
Emilia  is  the  concrete  core  of  the  podium  upon  which 
stood  the  Temple  of  Julius  Csesar,  built  by  Augustus  at 
the  eastern  end  of  the  Forum.  No  remains  of  the  temple 
itself  exist,  but  in  the  centre  of  the  podium  is  a  semi- 
circular niche  containing  the  remains  of  a  round  altar. 
This  has  been  deliberately  destroyed  and  the  niche  roughly 
blocked  up  with  a  wall  of  tufa  blocks— doubtless  in  Chris- 
tian times,  when  it  was  desired  to  put  an  end  to  the  worship 
of  Julius  Caesar,  whilst  retaining  the  temple  as  an  historical 
monument.  The  fagade  was  adorned  in  antiquity  with 
ships'  prows,  and,  under  the  name  oi  Rostra  Julia^  formed 
a  pendant  to  the  original  Rostra  at  the  western  end  of 
the  Forum.  To  the  S.  of  the  temple  are  the  travertine 
foundations  of  an  arch  with  three  bays,  identified  as  the 
Arch  of  Augustus,  built  in  commemoration  of  the  restitu- 
tion by  the  Parthians  of  the  standards  taken  from  Crassus 
at  Carrhge  in  B.C.  53.  The  foundations  rest  upon  a  road 
neatly  paved  with  blocks  of  lava.  Between  these  founda- 
tions and  the  Temple  of  Castor  and  Pollux  were  found 
"augural  pits"  lined  with  travertine,  making  the  Eastern 
limit  of  the  Forum  according  to  Caesar's  plan. 

At  the  S.E.  corner  of  the  piazza  rises  the  Temple  of 
Castor  and  Pollux,  dated  by  tradition  to  B.C.  484,  and  built 
in  honour  of  the  Heavenly  Twins  who,  in  B.C.  496,  conveyed 
to  Rome  the  news  of  the  victory  gained  by  Postumius  over 
the  Latins  at  Lake  Regillus,  and  watered  their  horses  at  the 
neighbouring  spring  of  Juturna.  We  know  that  the  temple 
was  restored  in  117  B.C.,  and  again  under  Augustus,  when  it 
was  rebuilt  by  Tiberius  and  dedicated  in  the  name  of  him- 
self and  his  brother  Drusus  in  a.d.  6  ;  nor  was  this,  probably, 
the  latest  of  its  restorations.  If  we  examine  the  podium 
we  can  trace  remains  of  different  periods  in  its  construction. 
Originally,  as  it  would  seem,  it  was  built  of  cappellaccio — 


IV.]  THE  FORUM  65 

soft  grey-green  tufa,  only  used  at  an  early  date  by  the 
Romans— of  which  only  a  few  courses  are  exposed.  Then 
this  was  encased  in  concrete  with  a  facing  of  tufa  blocks, 
and  we  can  distinguish  various  periods  of  restoration  by 
means  of  the  materials  used  for  filling  the  cement — first 
tufa  only,  then  tufa  and  travertine  ;  pozzolana,  again,  was 
not  used  in  the  making  of  the  earlier  concrete.  It  is  inter- 
esting, too,  to  note  that  immediately  under  the  columns, 
where  the  pressure  was  greatest,  travertine  was  used  instead 
of  tufa.  Between  these  piers  were  chambers  in  which 
treasure  was  deposited.  In  front  of  the  temple  was  a  plat- 
form decorated  with  ships'  beaks— a  third  Rostra— and 
approached  by  staircases  at  either  corner.  Three  columns 
of  the  temple  are  still  standing,  and  many  fragments  of  the 
entablature  and  cornice  have  been  discovered.  They  are 
very  finely  worked,  and  it  is  doubtful  whether  they  should 
be  attributed  to  the  restoration  of  Tiberius  or  to  the  time  of 
Hadrian.  If  we  climb  to  the  top  of  the  podium  we  can 
distinguish  a  pavement  of  black  and  white  mosaic,  of  which 
a  small  fragment  is  preserved,  from  a  later  one  at  a  higher 
level,  made  of  coloured  marbles  (not  now  visible). 

Following  the  Vicus  Tuscus  (p.  51)  between  the  Temple 
of  Castor  and  the  Basilica  Julia,  we  notice  that  the  street 
was  originally  paved,  not  with  lava  as  it  is  at  the  higher  level, 
but  with  small  cubes  of  brick.  We  soon  reach  a  huge  and 
unsightly  ruin,  once  a  large  rectangular  hall  with  niches  in 
its  walls,  approached  by  a  vestibule  six  metres  deep,  having 
a  large  niche  at  each  end.  The  description  of  Caligula's 
bridge  from  Palatine  to  Capitol  (see  below,  p.  93)  makes  it 
practically  certain  that  this  was  the  Temple  of  Augustus, 
built  by  Tiberius,  and  restored  (after  a  fire)  by  Domitian. 
It  contained  statues — doubtless  placed  in  the  niches — of  the 
various  deified  members  of  the  Julio-Claudian  house.  We 
also  hear  of  a  Library  attached  to  this  temple,  and  it  is 
plausibly  conjectured  that  this  is  represented  by  the  church 
of  S.  Maria  Antiqua,  described  in  Christian  Rome  {'^.  184, 
fif.,  Plan  xvi.).  The  present  building  seems  to  date  from  the 
reign  of  Domitian.     In  the  forecourt  may  be  seen  a  rect- 


66  THE  FORUM  [iv. 

angular  basin  to  which  a  flight  of  steps  leads  down,  and  as 
this  makes  an  angle  of  about  30  degrees  with  the  walls  of 
the  court  and  is  partly  buried  under  the  foundations  of  the 
nave  of  the  church,  it  was  no  doubt  the  inipluvium  of  a 
house  attached  to  the  Imperial  residence  on  the  Palatine 
(with  which  the  later  building  is  connected  by  a  ramp).i 
Here,  no  doubt,  Domitian  built  the  "  sanctuary  of  Minerva 
behind  the  temple  of  Augustus  "  in  which  were  set  up  the 
bronze  tablets  containing  the  names  of  the  time-expired 
auxiliary  soldiers  who  obtained  Roman  citizenship  on  their 
discharge.  The  nave  and  sanctuary  of  the  church  formed 
the  Library. 

Close  to  the  church  is  the  Chapel  of  the  Forty  Martyrs 
(see  Christian  Rome,  p.  189),  an  ancient  building  whose 
destination  is  unknown  ;  and  adjoining  it  are  a  group  of 
monuments  which  belong  to  the  next  division  of  our  subject. 

Beyond  the  temple  of  Augustus  is  a  small  piazza  paved 
with  travertine,  upon  which  stand  the  remains  of  very  late 
buildings.  Tabernae^  used  as  shops  or  offices,  open  on  to  it 
on  two  sides  ;  beneath  the  slope  of  the  Palatine  these  are  in 
two  storeys.  They  have  been  identified  with  the  "ware- 
houses of  Germanicus"  mentioned  in  the  descriptions  of 
Rome. 

^  On  Sundays,  when  the  excavations  of  the  Forum  and  Palatine 
are  free  to  the  public,  visitors  can  pass  from  the  one  to  the  other 
by  a  wicket-gate  at  the  top  of  this  incline. 


THE  SACRED  WAY  AND    ITS 
MONUMENTS 

F'^  I  "'HE  road  which  connected  the  Palatine  settlement 
[^    J^     with  the  Forum  bore  the  name  of  the  Sacred  Way. 

The  Romans  explained  the  name  by  the  legend  that 
after  the  battle  between  Romulus  and  the  Sabines  under 
Titus  Tatius  a  peace  was  here  confirmed  by  solemn  sacri- 
fices. But  a  sufficient  explanation  is  to  be  found  in  the  fact 
that  just  as  the  Forum  was  the  centre  of  Rome's  political 
life,  so  the  Sacred  Way  was  the  focus  of  the  State  religion. 
This  religion  was  the  counterpart  of  that  of  the  agricultural 
household,  and  its  rites  were  administered  not  by  a  priestly 
caste,  but  by  members  of  the  Roman  aristocracy,  who  per- 
formed in  the  larger  unit  of  the  State  the  functions  of  family 
worship.  At  the  head  of  the  State  Church  stood  in  origin 
the  king,  and  when  kingship  was  abolished  a  "king  of 
sacrifices  "  {Rex  sacrorum)  was  appointed  in  his  stead.  His 
official  residence  was  on  the  Velia,  where,  according  to 
tradition,  two  of  the  Roman  kings — Ancus  Martius  and 
Tarquinius  Superbus — had  had  their  abode.  But  it  was 
also  told  how  Numa  Pompilius,  to  whom  the  organisation 
of  the  State-worship  was  in  large  measure  ascribed,  had 
inhabited  a  "  palace "  {Regia)  on  the  Sacred  Way,  but  had 
afterwards  resigned  it  to  the  Chief  Priest  {Pontifex  maximus) 
as  his  residence.  In  point  of  fact,  the  Regia  of  historical 
times  was  not  the  residence  of  the  Pontifex  Maximus,  but  a 
precinct  containing  various  shrines  connected  with  the 
worship  of  the  primitive  agricultural  community,  which  was 

67 


68  THE  SACRED  WAY  [v. 

carried  on  by  the  College  of  Priests  of  which  the  Pontifex 
Maximus  was  the  head,  and  which  counted  amongst  its 
members  the  chief  of  the  Flamines,  who  were  the  priests  of 
special  divinities.  The  Pontifex  Maximus  inhabited  the 
"  public  house  "  {domus  publico),  which  was  on  the  opposite 
side  of  the  Sacred  Way ;  and  close  by  was  the  precinct  of 
Vesta,  the  hearth-goddess  of  the  State-household,  whose  fire 
was  tended  by  the  Six  Virgins  who  represented  the  daughters 
of  Rome.  Hard  by  their  dwelling  was  the  Holy  Spring  of 
Juturna,  from  which  they  drew  water  for  domestic  and 
ritual  use.  It  is  at  this  point  that  our  description  begins.] 
Immediately  adjoining  the  N.  wall  of  the  Chapel  of  the 
Forty  Martyrs,  and  set  at  an  angle  therewith,  is  a  little  shrine 
of  brickwork,  in  front  of  which  are  the  bases  of  two  columns  : 
on  the  architrave,  which  is  partly  preserved,  and  has  been 
set  up  above  the  back  wall  of  the  shrine,  was  inscribed 
IVTVRNAI  SACRVM — '  Sacred  to  Juturna.'  Juturna  was  in 
origin  simply  one  of  the  many  spring  nymphs  worshipped 
by  the  Romans,  and  belonged  to  the  pre-mythical  period. 
Not  until  the  habit  of  story-telling  had  been  borrowed  from 
Greece  did  she  find  a  place  in  the  national  epic  as  the  sister 
of  Turnus,  prince  of  the  Rutuli,  in  which  guise  she  appears 
in  Virgil's  AUneid.  Immediately  in  front  of  the  chapel 
stands  a  marble  well-head,  bearing  an  inscription  which  tells 
us  that  it  was  restored  by  the  Curule  ccdile,  M.  Barbatius 
Pollio,  possibly  to  be  identified  with  a  person  mentioned  in 
Cicero's  Philippics  as  a  partisan  of  Mark  Antony.  The 
ropes  by  which  the  buckets  of  water  were  hauled  up  have 
worn  deep  grooves  in  the  edge  of  the  well-head.  It  must 
have  continued  in  use  until  very  late  times,  for  a  slab  of 
marble  and  an  altar  of  the  third  century  A.D.  with  a  relie 
showing  a  woman  addressing  a  soldier  (perhaps  Juturna  and 
Turnus)  were  placed  as  steps  beside  it  in  order  that  the 
buckets  might  be  drawn  up  with  greater  ease.^  The  well- 
head does  not  in  fact  stand  over  a  spring,  but  over  a  shaft 
connected  by  a  lead  pipe  with  the  actual  spring  of  Juturna, 

1  This  altar  has  now  been  set  upright  on  the  lower  step. 


70  THE  SACRED  WAY  [v. 

which  in  Imperial  times  was  enclosed  in  a  tank — the 
Lacus  Juturnai — lined  with  slabs  of  marble.  In  the  centre 
of  this  tank  is  a  rectangular  pedestal  built  of  opus  reticu- 
latum^  faced  with  marble,  which  may  have  carried  statues  of 
Castor  and  Pollux,  who  were  said  to  have  watered  their 
horses  at  the  spring.  A  travertine  foundation  which  origi- 
nally enclosed  a  somewhat  larger  space  than  the  present 
pool  marks  the  earlier  limit  of  the  Lacus,  and  in  late  times 
it  was  made  still  smaller  by  the  erection  of  a  large  brick 
archway  and  wall.  At  the  bottom  of  the  pool  was  found  a 
marble  altar,  which  has  been  set  up  beside  it ;  it  is  adorned 
with  reliefs,  which  represent,  on  the  narrow  ends,  Jupiter 
and  Leda  (with  the  Swan)  ;  on  the  broad  sides.  Castor  and 
Pollux  and  a  female  divinity  holding  a  torch,  who  must  be 
identified,  if  we  keep  to  the  Greek  myth,  with  Helen  con- 
ceived as  a  moon-goddess.  The  water  of  the  spring  was 
believed  to  possess  healing  qualities,  and  the  votive  offerings 
found  in  the  precinct  show  that  women  resorted  to  Juturna 
for  protection  in  childbirth  (the  name  Juturna  was  inter- 
preted as  "  the  helper " — so  that  a  goddess  of  childbirth 
may  perhaps  be  represented  on  the  altar).  Many  fragments 
of  sculpture  have  been  found  in  or  near  the  pool ;  amongst 
them  parts  of  life-size  statues  of  the  Dioscuri.  These  have 
been  placed  in  the  small  rooms  at  the  back  of  the  pool, 
which  support  an  inclined  way  leading  up  to  the  N.  angle  of 
the  Palatine.  In  one  of  the  rooms  was  found  a  statue  of 
^sculapius,  and  there  is  reason  to  think  that  resort  was 
made  to  the  spring  by  sick  persons  on  account  of  the  medi- 
cinal qualities  which  it  was  supposed  to  possess.  The  rooms^ 
also  served  as  offices  for  the  commissioners  of  the  water- 
supply  {curatores  aquarum\  several  of  whose  inscriptions 
were  found  therein.  In  one  of  them  will  be  seen  a  collec- 
tion of  votive  offerings,  etc.,  found  in  the  pool  itself,  amongst 
them  a  large  number  of  glass  cups,  showing  that  the  water 
was  taken  in  small  doses. 

Turning  to  the  R.  at  the  N.  end  of  the  precinct  of  Juturna 
we  see  the  circular  podium  which  once  supported  the 
Temple   of   Vesta,    which    contained    the    hearth-fire    0£ 


v.]  THE  SACRED  WAY  71 

the  Roman  community,  extinguished  only  on  the  first  ot 
March  in  each  year  and  then  rekindled  by  the  Pontifex 
Maximus  by  means  of  a  primitive  fire-drill,  and  also  a  secret 
recess,  the  penus  VestcE,  in  which  certain  symbolical  objects, 
such  as  the  Palladium,  were  kept  hidden  from  the  public 
gaze.  It  should  not,  strictly  speaking,  be  called  a  temple, 
since  it  was  not  consecrated  as  such,  and  contained  no  statue 
of  the  divinity  to  whom  it  belonged  ;  neither  had  it  the  four- 
square form  of  the  templum^  but  was  circular  in  shape,  in 
this  respect  faithfully  preserving  the  form  of  the  primitive 
wattled  hut  in  which  the  hearth-fire  of  the  community  was 
kindled ;  it  was,  in  fact,  simply  "the  House  of  the  Hearth." 
Even  in  historical  times  it  was  probably  rebuilt  in  something 
like  its  original  shape  when,  as  in  241  B.C.  and  210  B.C.,  it 
was  destroyed  by  fire  ;  under  the  Empire  it  assumed  the 
form  of  a  peripteral  temple  surrounded  by  twenty  columns, 
between  which  were  bronze  gratings.  The  columns  stood 
on  pedestals,  and  the  entrance  was  by  a  flight  of  steps  on 
the  E.  The  dome  was  crowned— as  the  coin-types  show 
— by  a  kind  of  chimney  in  the  form  of  a  flower.  If  we 
ascend  the  podium  by  the  steps  formed  of  tufa  blocks,  upon 
which  marble  slabs  once  rested,  we  see  in  the  centre  of  it  a 
deep  pit,  whose  walls  are  partly  preserved  on  three  sides, 
lined  below  with  opus  incertum  and  above  with  brick.  In 
the  walls  of  the  podium  we  can  distinguish  three  layers  of 
concrete,  which  correspond  with  the  successive  restorations 
of  the  temple.  The  last  of  these  was  the  work  of  Julia 
Domna,  the  wife  of  Septimius  Severus,  and  was  undertaken 
in  consequence  of  the  destruction  ot  the  temple  by  the  great 
fire  of  A.D.  192.  To  this  final  rebuilding  we  must  assign 
the  fragments  of  the  columns,  entablature,  and  coffered  roof 
of  the  portico,  which  are  to  be  seen  near  the  temple.  The 
frieze  was  adorned  with  sacrificial  emblems.  It  will  be 
noticed  that  between  the  topmost  layer  of  concrete  (filled 
with  blocks  of  yellowish  tufa),  and  that  immediately  below 
it  there  is  a  stratum  of  debris  and  marble  chips  ;  these 
prove  that  the  temple  was  hastily  restored  after  its  destruc- 
tion by  fire.     The  central  pit  is  the  favissa^  into  which  the 


72  THE  SACRED  WAY  [v. 

ashes  of  the  sacred  fire  were  allowed  to  fall  ;  only  once  a 
year,  on  the  isth  of  June,  was  the  pit  emptied  and  the 
rubbish  removed  to  the  Altar  of  Plenty  {Ops)\^  the  Capitol, 
where  they  served  as  a  fertility-charm.  The  day  is  marked 
in  the  Calendars  Q  St.  D.F.  {Quando  stercus  delatum  fas\ 
i.e.  "  a  holiday  until  the  rubbish  has  been  removed." 

The  "  House  of  Vesta  "  only  occupied  a  small  space  in  the 
precinct  of  that  goddess,  which  was  surrounded  by  a  wall 
faced  with  fine  marble  cement  {opus  albarium)  of  which 
some  traces  can  be  seen.  The  greater  part  of  the  precinct 
was,  under  the  later  Empire,  occupied  by  the  House  of  the 
Vestals  {Domus  Virginum  Vestalium)  ;  and  this  grew 
gradually  from  modest  dimensions  to  an  elaborate  cloistered 
building.  The  precinct  also  contained  a  grove  {Lucus 
Vesice)  and  the  "Public  House"  {domus publico),  inhabited 
by  the  Pontifex  Maximus,  who,  as  head  of  the  State  family, 
was  technically  the  father  of  the  Vestal  Virgins.  We  enter 
the  house  of  the  Vestals  by  a  doorway  on  our  R.  as  we 
leave  the  temple,  noticing  to  the  R.  of  the  entrance  a  small 
shrine  in  which  a  statue  of  the  goddess  once  stood,  and 
find  ourselves  in  a  large  rectangular  court — the  Atrium 
Vestae — originally  surrounded  by  a  colonnade  of  forty-eight 
Corinthian  columns  of  cipollino,  and  an  upper  story  with 
columns  of  breccia  corallina.  Only  the  travertine  bases  of 
the  lower  arcade  are  preserved,  together  with  some  frag- 
ments of  the  columns  ;  two  whole  columns  of  breccia  and 
several  fragments  may  be  seen  beside  the  S.  wall.  In 
the  floor  of  the  court  are  three  water-tanks  {impluvia) ;  that 
in  the  centre  is  partly  buried  under  the  foundations  of  an 
octagonal  structure — whether  shrine,  fountain,  or  arbour  is 
quite  uncertain.  Beside  the  westernmost  tank  may  be  seen 
some  remains — a  pavement  in  mosaic  and  another  in  tufa — 
of  the  earlier  Atrium  :  the  present  building  is  probably  due 
in  its  general  plan  to  Hadrian,  but  was  much  restored  by 
Septimius  Severus  after  the  fire  of  A.D.  192.  At  the  western 
end  of  the  Atrium  are  various  store-rooms  and  a  bakery 
containing  two  ovens ;  these  may  be  entered  by  a  doorway 
opposite  to  the  southern  side  of  the  Aedes  Vestae.     In  the 


v.]  THE  SACRED   WAY  73 

S.W.  angle  oi  the  building  is  a  suite  of  rooms,  one  of  which 
ends  in  an  apse.  It  has  been  thought  that  these  may  have 
been  the  Penetralia,  where  sacred  objects  were  kept  in  the 
9  custody  of  the  Vestals. 

The  rooms  opening  on  the  court  to  N.  and  S.  were 
the  living-rooms  of  the  Vestals.  Those  upon  the  S.  side, 
being  built  against  the  slope  of  the  Palatine  and  cut  off 
from  the  sunlight  by  the  lofty  buildings  which  towered  upon 
the  hill,  were  damp  and  unwholesome  ;  and  to  remedy  this 
double  walls  and  floors  were  built  in  the  third  century  a.d. 
In  some  of  the  rooms,  where  the  later  floor  has  been  re- 
moved, costly  pavements  of  coloured  marble  belonging  to 
an  earlier  period  have  been  brought  to  light.  They  are 
made  of  giallo  antico,  pavonazzetto^  and  portasania. 

Beyond  these  chambers  we  come  to  a  kitchen  and  a  room 
containing  a  mill,  in  which  the  corn  used  by  the  Vestals  was 
ground.  There  are  also  remains  of  staircases  leading  to  an 
upper  storey  containing  bathrooms.  The  number  of  storeys 
in  the  Atrium  is  not  quite  certain,  but  in  any  case  its  height 
was  not  the  same  in  all  parts,  and  it  was  for  this  reason  that 
the  colonnade  was  built  in  two  storeys,  in  order  to  mask  the 
irregularities  of  the  building.  In  one  of  the  inner  wall- 
spaces  was  found  a  hoard  of  nearly  four  hundred  gold  coins, 
almost  all  of  the  fifth  century  A.D.,  hidden  about  A.D.  470,  in 
the  troublous  times  which  preceded  the  fall  of  the  Western 
Empire.  The  Vestals  had  been  expelled  from  their  cloister 
by  Theodosius  the  Great  in  a.d.  394,  and  the  Atrium  had 
become  the  residence  of  some  Imperial  official. 

At  the  eastern  end  is  a  hall  corresponding  with  the 
Tablinum  in  the  typical  Roman  house,  approached  by  a 
flight  of  steps  :  both  the  eastern  end  of  the  corridor,  and  the 
Tablinum  itself,  were  paved  with  coloured  marbles.  Three 
rooms  open  out  of  the  Tablinum  on  either  side,  and  in  one 
of  those  to  the  S.  may  be  seen  a  number  of  jars,  which 
served  to  form  a  hypocaust.  The  rooms  on  the  N.  side 
of  the  Court  are  not  well  preserved  and  of  little  interest. 
Statues  of  the  Senior  Vestals  ( Virgines  Vestales  Maximce) 
were  set  up  on  pedestals  all  round  the  Atrium.     Several  of 


74  THE  SACRED  WAY  [v. 

these  are  preserved,  as  well  as  fragments  of  the  statues 
which  they  supported.  The  best  preserved  have,  however, 
been  removed  to  the  Museo  delle  Terme  (p.  214).  Amongst 
the  inscriptions  on  the  pedestals  is  one  (the  third  from  the  % 
S.W.  corner  of  the  Atrium)  in  which  the  name  of  the  Vestal 
is  erased,  except  for  the  letter  C.  The  date  of  the  inscription 
is  June  9,  a.d.  364,  and  it  is  often  said  that  the  name  erased 
was  that  of  the  Vestal  Claudia,  who,  according  to  Prudentius, 
embraced  Christianity  and  entered  the  Convent  of  S.  Law- 
rence (at  S.  Lorenzo  fuori  le  mura)  ;  but  it  seems  that  the 
name  must  have  contained  at  least  nine  letters.  Perhaps, 
however,  the  poet's  "Claudia"  is  a  fancy  name. 

On  leaving  the  Atrium  we  turn  to  the  R.,  where,  at  the 
back  of  the  N.  wall  we  see  a  row  of  iaberricE^  which  were 
probably  let  as  shops.  Beneath  the  floor  of  these  remains 
of  an  earlier  building  with  a  different  orientation  have  been 
brought  to  light.  It  is  supposed  that  this  was  the  Domus 
Publica,  in  which  the  Pontifex  Maximus  had  his  residence 
until  Augustus  assumed  that  office  in  12  B.C.,  when  he  pre- 
sented it  to  the  College  of  Vestals,  and  in  order  to  satisfy 
traditional  scruples  conveyed  a  part  of  his  palace  on  the 
Palatine  to  public  uses.  The  atrium  of  the  house,  with  a  deep 
impiuvm?n,  and  the  tablinum  with  an  apse  and  mosaic 
pavement,  can  be  distinguished,  as  well  as  a  room  with  a 
wall-painting  of  trees  and  birds  on  a  background  of  blue 
sky ;  the  same  style  of  decoration  was  found  in  the  Villa 
of  Li  via  ad  Gallinas  at  Prima  Porta. 

It  is  certain  that  the  precinct  of  Vesta  was  approached 
by  the  Sacred  Way,  but  not  so  clear  whether  that  name 
properly  belongs  to  the  narrow  road  passing  along  its  north- 
western corner  and  separating  it  from  the  Regia,  rather 
than  to  the  broader  street  to  the  N.  of  this  building.  If 
this  latter  be  the  true  Sacra  Via,  its  course  must  have  been 
altered  by  the  building  of  the  Temple  of  Julius  Caesar. 

The  remains  of  the  Regia  are  those  of  a  building  ot 
irregular  pentagonal  shape,  with  sides  fronting  both 
branches  of  the  road.  Scarcely  anything  remains  but  the 
foundations  ;  but  these  enable  us  to  distinguish  the  republi- 


v.]  THE  SACRED  WAY  75 

can  building,  with  pavements  of  tufa,  from  that  raised  by 
Cu.  Domitius  Calvinus,  who  rebuilt  the  Regia  in  solid 
marble  in  36  B.C.  Upon  the  marble  walls  were  engraved 
in  double  panels  the  Fasti  Consulares,  or  lists  of  consuls 
from  the  beginning  of  the  Republic  untjj.  the  foundation  of 
the  Empire,  and  on  the  pilasters  which  diversified  the  walls 
were  inscribed  the  Fasti  Tritcmp hales,  or  list  of  triumphs 
celebrated  in  Rome,  together  with  their  occasions.  Many 
of  the  blocks  containing  these  lists  were  found  in  1 546,  and 
conveyed  to  the  Palazzo  dei  Conservatori  (p.  136) ;  others  have 
been  discovered  in  recent  times.  In  the  early  Middle  Ages 
the  Regia  was  transformed  into  a  private  house.  A  doorway 
(by  which  the  building  is  now  entered)  was  rudely  hacked 
in  the  narrow  eastern  wall,  and  on  the  N.  side  the  house 
was  approached  by  two  steps  of  travertine  leading  to  a 
portico  of  cipollino  columns  on  bases  of  red  granite. 
Passing  through  the  doorway  above-mentioned,  we  notice 
in  the  centre  of  the  Republican  pavement  a  circular  sub- 
structure  of  grey  tufa.  It  has  been  conjectured  that  this 
was  the  foundation  of  the  Shrine  of  Mars  {Sacrariu7n 
Martis\  in  which  were  kept  the  sacred  shields  {attcilia)  and 
spears  {hastce)  of  the  war-god.  These  were  used  by  the 
Salii,  or  "dancing  priests,"  on  ritual  occasions,  and  were 
suspended  in  such  a  manner  that  they  were  sensitive  to  the 
slightest  tremor  of  earthquake  ;  when  they  "  moved  them- 
selves "  the  portent  was  duly  recorded. 

At  the  south-western  end  of  this  part  of  the  Regia  is  a 
small  room  with  a  pavement  of  black  and  white  mosaic, 
shown  by  an  inscription  to  have  been  the  office  of  the 
Kalatores  ("  summoners ")  of  the  pontifices  and  flamines. 
In  the  northern  part  of  the  building  was  an  open  court, 
approached  by  an  ante-chamber  at  the  eastern  side.  In  this 
were  two  wells  and  a  large  subterranean  cistern  \\\  ft. 
deep,  cylindrical  at  the  bottom  and  domed  at  the  top.  This 
was  built  of  tufa  lined  with  cement  made  of  pounded  pot- 
sherds {opus  signinutn).  It  was  probably  used  for  the 
storage  of  grain,  which  was  poured  in  through  a  narrow 
opening  in  the  N.  side  near  to  the  top  ;  and  it  is  natural  to 


76  THE  SACRED  WAY  [v. 

connect  it  with  the  worship  of  Ops  Consiva,  the  Goddess 
of  Plentiful  Store  {Consiva  from  Condere,  "to  lay  up,"  or 
"bury").  We  know,  however,  that  the  sanctuary  of  Ops 
Consiva  was  a  secret  chamber  entered  only  by  the  Vestals 
(together  with  the  Pontifex  Maximus)  on  August  25,  at  the 
end  of  corn  harvest,  so  that  the  shrine  itself  cannot  have 
stood  in  the  open  court. 

The  northern  side  of  the  Regia  faces  the  church  ot 
S.  Lorenzo  in  Miranda,  or  to  give  it  its  ancient  name,  the 
Temple  of  Antoninus  and  Faustina,  built  in  a.d.  141  in 
honour  of  the  deified  Empress  Faustina  the  Elder,  as  the 
inscription  on  the  architrave  records  ;  the  words  engraved 
on  the  frieze— DIVO  ANTONINO  ET,  "to  the  Divine 
Antoninus  and  .  .  , " — were  added  after  the  Emperor's 
death  by  order  of  the  Senate.  From  the  roadway  a  broad 
flight  of  steps,  in  the  centre  of  which  was  a  pedestal, 
doubtless  for  a  statue  of  the  Empress,  led  up  to  the  portico, 
which  had  six  columns  of  cipollino  in  the  front  as  well  as 
two  at  each  side.  Several  of  the  columns  have  figures  and 
inscriptions  rudely  scratched  on  them.  The  walls  (built  into 
those  of  the  church,  which  dates  from  about  the  eighth 
century)  were  of  peperino  with  marble  facings  which  have 
long  since  disappeared :  only  parts  of  the  frieze,  with 
a  graceful  pattern  of  griffins  and  candelabra  remain. 

The  excavations  of  1902  and  the  following  years  have 
brought  to  light  the  remains  of  a  cemetery  of  very  early 
date  at  a  depth  of  15-20  feet  below  the  imperial  level, 
which  was  partly  buried  beneath  the  foundations  of  the 
Temple  of  Faustina,  but  extends  for  some  distance  beyond 
its  S.E.  corner.  About  forty  graves  have  hitherto  been 
discovered,  and  these  are  of  two  types — {a)  long  trenches 
in  which  bodies  were  buried,  sometimes  in  rude  coffins  made 
of  hollowed  tree-trunks  or  blocks  of  tufa,  and((i5)  circular  pits 
in  each  of  which  was  placed  a  large  jar  containing  sacrificial 
offerings  and  vases  ;  one  of  these  held  the  ashes  of  a 
cremated  body.  These  cremation-graves  are  earlier  in  date 
than  the  inhumation  tombs,  as  is  shown  {inter  alia)  by  the 
fact  that  one  of  them  was  partially  destroyed  in  the  digging 


v.]  THE  SACRED  WAY  77 

of  a  burial-trench.  The  pottery,  which  for  the  present 
is  housed  in  a  storehouse  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  Sacred 
Way,  and  may  only  be  seen  by  special  permission,  is  rude 
and  primitive  :  it  is  hand-made,  and  the  clay  is  that  found 
in  the  Forum  itself.  The  most  characteristic  form  is  the 
hut-urn,  which  reproduces  the  primitive  Italian  dwelling, 
oval  in  plan,  with  a  thatched  roof.  The  cemetery  may  have 
been  in  use  as  early  as  the  ninth  century  B.C.,  and  the  latest 
graves,  in  which  a  few  vases  of  Greek  importation  have  been 
found,  are  scarcely  later  than  600  B.C.  Clearly  it  belongs 
to  the  period  when  the  several  village  communities  of  the 
Septimontium  had  not  yet  formed  a  single  city. 

To  the  E.  of  the  cemetery  may  be  seen,  below  the  level  of  the 
Sacred  Way,  a  corridor  with  three  rooms  built  of  tufa-blocks 
on  either  side.  They  are  paved  with  bricks  laid  in  a  herring- 
bone pattern  {opus  spicatum).  These  rooms  have  been 
thought  to  be  a  prison,  but  we  know  of  no  such  building 
except  that  already  described  (p.  46) ;  they  are  probably 
store-rooms  or  cellars  belonging  to  houses  of  Republican 
date.  They  were  included  in  the  foundations  of  the  circular 
building  flanked  by  rectangular  projections  on  either  side  of 
a  curved  porch  which  we  next  pass  :  this  is  the  chapel  of 
the  Divine  Romulus,  not  the  founder  of  Rome,  but  the 
infant  son  of  the  Emperor  Maxentius,  who  was  deified  on 
his  death  in  A.D.  307.  The  richly  ornamented  architrave 
which  surmounts  the  door  was  taken  from  some  earlier 
building.  The  bronze  doors,  though  deprived  of  their 
original  decorations,  still  retain  the  ancient  lock,  which 
is  ingeniously  contrived.  In  the  sixth  century  A.D.  Felix  IV 
made  the  chapel  into  the  vestibule  of  the  church  of  SS.  Cos- 
mas  and  Damian,  the  body  of  which  was  formed  by  an 
ancient  building,  whose  East  wall,  built  of  tufa,  may  be  seen 
by  turning  the  L.  on  passing  the  chapel  of  Romulus.  The 
N.  wall,  which  is  of  brick  and  concrete,  belongs  to  a 
restoration  by  Septimius  Severus  and  the  Marble  Plan  of 
Rome  (p.  141),  originally  formed  its  facing.  This  too  is  in 
its  present  form  the  work  of  Severus,  but  is  most  probably 
a  renewal  of  a  similar  plan  set  up  by  Vespasian,  for  the 


78  THE  SACRED  WAY  [v. 

building  overlooked  the  Forum  of  Peace,  so  called  because 
it  contained  the  temple  of  that  goddess  built  by  Vespasian 
(cf.  p.  1 54).  This  has  not  yet  been  excavated  except  for  the 
narrow  strip  adjoining  the  building  just  described,  which  is 
often  (but  without  reason)  called  the  Templuui  Sacrae  Urbis 
("  Temple  of  the  Sacred  City ")  ;  the  name  was  given  to  it 
in  the  sixteenth  century  because  of  the  discovery  of  the 
Marble  Plan  attached  to  the  wall. 

From  this  point  the  Sacred  Way  begins  to  ascend  the 
slope  of  the  Velia,  and  hence  bore  the  name  of  the  "Sacred 
Hill'*  {Sacer  clivus).  The  ancient  paving  was  brought 
to  light  in  1 901,  two  metres  below  the  mediaeval  road.^  It  is 
five  metres  wide,  and  curves  gradually  to  the  S.  This  part 
of  the  street  was  in  early  times  occupied  by  the  private 
houses  of  wealthy  Roman  families,  such  as  the  Valerii  and 
Domitii,  but  like  the  main  thoroughfares  of  all  great  cities, 
it  gradually  became  a  place  of  business,  bordered  by  the 
shops  of  jewellers,  spice-merchants,  and  others.  Remains 
of  these  may  be  seen  on  both  sides  of  the  road.  To  the 
left-hand  are  foundations  which  seem  to  have  belonged  to 
the  great  spice-warehouse  {horrea  piperataria)  built  by 
Domitian  and  burnt  in  A.D.  285  ;  and  above  them  towers  the 
imposing  ruin  of  the  Basilica  of  Constantine,  begun  by 
Maxentius  between  A.D.  306  and  310  under  the  name  of 
Basilica  Nova^  but  completed  by  his  conquerer,  whose  name 
it  commonly  bears.  This  building  is  amongst  the  most 
perfect  examples  of  Roman  constructive  science  at  the 
height  of  its  development.  Unlike  the  flat -roofed  basilicas 
supported  by  arcades  or  ranges  of  columns,  it  is  constructed 
with  a  few  massive  piers  of  concrete  sufficient  in  number  to 
sustain  the  concentrated  thrust  of  the  concrete  vaults.  As 
originally  designed  by  Maxentius,  the  basilica  had  its  fagade 
to  the  E.,  where  was  a  narrow  vestibule  across  the  whole 
width  of  the  building  with  five  entrances  into  the  main 
building,  three  into  the  central  nave  terminated  by  a  wide 

^  The  rise  of  the  ground-level  may  be  measured  by  observing 
the  foundations  of  the  mediaeval  building  with  an  arcaded  front  to 
the  E.  of  the  chapel  of  Romuhis. 


v.]  THE  SACRED  WAY  70 

apse,  and  one  into  each  aisle.  In  the  centre  of  the  nave 
were  four  huge  piers,  dividing  the  hall  into  three  large  bays, 
roofed  with  quadripartite  vaulting,  the  groins  of  which 
sprang  from  eight  monoliths  of  Hymettus  marble.  The  last 
of  these  was  removed  by  Paul  V  to  the  Piazza  of  S.  Maria 
Maggiore.  The  aisles  had  three  bays  corresponding  with 
those  of  the  nave,  which  were  roofed  with  barrel- vaults  and 
divided  by  walls  pierced  with  arches  ;  the  three  northern  bays 
are  well  preserved,  so  that  some  idea  can  be  formed  of  the 
means  by  which  the  weight  of  the  roofs  was  so  distributed 
amongst  the  supporting  piers  and  walls  that  the  whole 
building  was  self-contained  and  needed  no  external 
buttresses.  This  marks  the  triumph  of  Roman  architec- 
ture, and  the  result  was  only  made  possible  by  the  combined 
qualities  of  lightness  and  rigidity  possessed  by  pozzolana 
concrete.  The  design  of  the  Basilica — though  not  its 
structural  character — was  altered  by  Constantine,  who  made 
the  principal  entrance  in  the  middle  of  the  S.  side.  This 
was  approached  from  the  Sacred  Way  by  a  flight  of  steps 
leading  to  a  portico  of  porphyry  columns,  and  it  was  faced 
by  a  semicircular  apse,  as  wide  as  that  at  the  W.  end,  in  the 
middle  of  the  N.  side,  so  that  the  aspect  of  the  building  was 
that  of  three  parallel  halls  from  whichever  side  it  was 
entered.  Of  its  decoration  nothing  remains  save  a  small 
portion  of  the  marble  pavement,  made  of  slabs  of  green 
porphyry  and  coloured  marbles,  and  part  of  the  coffered 
ceiling,  whose  stucco  mouldings  may  be  studied  in  the  large 
fragments  which  lie  on  the  floor  of  the  basilica  near  its  W. 
end.  The  roof  was  reached  by  spiral  staircases  in  the 
walls  (which  were  six  metres  in  thickness),  and  one  of  these — 
to  the  N.  of  the  western  apse — has  recently  been  cleared 
for  some  distance. 

As  we  ascend  the  Sacred  Hill  we  see  facing  us  the  church 
of  S.  Francesca  Romana,  which  has  taken  the  place  of 
the  Temple  of  Venus  and  Rome,  built  to  the  design  of 
Hadrian  on  an  artificial  platform  ^  raised  on  substructures  of 

^  The  Velia  had  been  occupied  by  the  vestibule  of  the  Golden 
House  of  Nero,  and  a  colossal  statue  of  that  Emperor  in  gilded 


8o  THE  SACRED  WAY  [v; 

concrete  once  faced  with  travertine,  which  are  well  seen  at  the 
eastern  extremity,  opposite  the  Colosseum.  The  platform 
was  approached  by  marble  steps,  a  few  of  which  was  pre- 
served on  the  western  front.  Some  game-boards,  like  those 
of  the  Basilica  Julia,  and  the  figures  of  a  gladiator,  racehorse, 
and  Centaur  are  scratched  upon  them.  The  precinct  was 
surrounded  by  a  colonnade  double  at  the  ends  and  single  at 
the  sides,  formed  by  columns  of  red  and  grey  granite,  some 
fragments  of  which  may  still  be  seen.  In  the  centre  of  the 
precinct  was  the  great  double  temple,  raised  on  a  platform 
of  seven  steps  :  it  had  ten  columns  (of  cipollino)  in  the  front 
and  twenty  in  each  side,  and  space  was  left  free,  sufficient 
for  an  inner  peristyle,  between  the  columns  and  the  walls  of 
the  cellcp.  Of  these  there  were  two,  placed  back  to  back  ; 
that  which  faced  the  Forum  was  (probably)  dedicated  to 
"Eternal  Rome,"  the  other  to  "Venus  the  Giver  of  Prosperity." 
The  latter  is  better  preserved  :  not  only  the  great  apse  with 
its  coffered  semi-dome,  but  part  of  the  S.  wall  may  be 
seen.  The  brickfaced  concrete  was  entirely  covered  with 
costly  marbles,  and  there  were  rows  of  porphyry  columns 
supporting  an  entablature  in  front  of  each  wall.  Two  frag- 
ments of  relief,  one  in  the  Lateran  Museum  (p.  231)  and  one 
in  the  Museo  delle  Terme  (p.  217),  are  supposed  to  belong  to- 
gether and  to  represent  the  western  pediment.  Mars  and 
Rhea  Silvia,  the  Wolf  and  Twins  and  the  Shepherds, 
appear  on  the  fragment  of  the  Museo  delle  Terme. 

At  the  S.W.  corner  of  the  platform,  stands  the  Arch  of 
Titus,  erected  in  commemoration  of  the  suppression  of  the 
Jewish  revolt  and  the  fall  of  Jerusalem  in  a.d.  70,  but  not 
completed  until  after  the  death  of  Titus  in  A.D.  81,  as  is 
shown  by  the  inscription  on  the  attic,  which  records  its  dedi- 
cation "to  the  Divine  Titus,"  and  by  the  figure  of  the  Emperor 
carried  to  heaven  on  the  wings  of  an  eagle,  sculptured  in  the 

bronze  by  a  Greek  artist,  Zenodorus,  stood  on  the  site  of  the 
Campanile  of  S.  Francesca  Romana.  Vespasian  removed  the 
portrait  head  of  Nero  and  replaced  it  by  an  image  of  the  Sun  ; 
Hadrian  caused  the  Colossus  to  be  removed  by  twenty-four  elephants 
to  a  spot  nearer  the  Colosseum,  where  its  base  may  be  seen. 


v.]  THE  SACRED  WAY  8* 

centre  of  the  ceiling  of  the  archway.  The  arch  stands  upon 
the  pavement  of  the  Sacre4  Hill,  and  it  has  been  suggested 
that  it  was  originally  set  up  further  to  the  N.,  and  was  moved 
by  Hadrian  when  he  built  the  Temple  of  Venus  and  Rome. 
In  the  Middle  Ages  it  formed  a  part  of  the  fortress  built  by 
the  Frangipani,  and  suffered  serious  damage  ;  a  floor  was 
constructed  in  the  middle  of  the  archway,  and  the  reliefs 
were  hacked  away  in  order  that  joists  might  be  inserted.  The 
level  of  the  passage,  too,  was  lower  than  in  ancient  times, 
and  the  traces  of  damage  done  by  the  traffic  to  the  travertine 
foundations  are  plain.  In  1821,  when  the  last  traces  of  the 
medii«val  fortification  were  removed,  it  was  found  that  the 
piers  were  in  a  dangerous  state,  and  they  were  accordingly 
restored  by  A^aladier  in  travertine,  which  the  eye  readily 
distinguishes  from  the  original  marble. 

The  arch  is  one  of  the  simplest  in  its  scheme,  and  yet  the 
most  effective  of  Roman  triumphal  arches  :  that  of  Trajan 
at  Beneventum  is  very  similar  to  it  in  plan  and  proportion, 
but  is  overloaded  with  decoration.  The  capitals  of  the 
engaged  columns  at  the  angles  of  the  piers  are  the  earliest 
examples  of  the  Composite  order,  so  called  because  the 
acanthus  foliage  of  the  Corinthian  is  combined  with  the 
volutes  of  the  Ionic.  On  the  keystones  are  sculptured 
an  armed  female  figure,  and  a  male  divinity  holding  a 
Cornucopia :  these  are  generally  interpreted  as  Rome  and 
the  Genius  of  the  Roman  people,  but  in  reality  they  re- 
present a  pair  of  deities  worshipped  by  the  army — Virtus 
(Manliness)  and  Honos  (Honour).  But  the  main  interest  of 
the  monument  belongs  to  the  reliefs  of  the  passage-way. 
That  on  the  N.  side  portrays  Titus  in  his  triumphal  car, 
accompanied  by  horsemen  and  lictors  :  he  is  crowned  by 
Victory,  and  the  bridles  of  the  horses  are  held  by  Rome 
herself.  On  the  S.  side  we  see  the  procession  approaching 
an  arch  represented  in  perspective,  probably  that  which 
gave  access  to  the  Capitoline  piazza  :  the  treasures  of  the 
Temple  of  Jerusalem — the  table  of  shewbread,  the  seven- 
branched  candlestick  and  the  golden  trumpets— are  being 
carried   on   stretchers.  '    But    the   reliefs  have   more  than 


82  THE  SACRED  WAY  [v. 

historical  importance.  It  has  been  recognised  that  they 
mark  a  definite  stage  in  the  history  of  art.  In  Greek  rehefs 
the  background  was  always  treated  as  though  it  were  a 
blank  wall,  in  front  of  which  the  figures  stand,  until  in 
Hellenistic  times  some  attempt  was  made  to  introduce  the 
natural  features  of  landscape  which  more  properly  belong 
to  the  sister  art  of  painting.  The  problem  which  Greek 
artists  had  attacked  only  in  late  times  and  with  imperfect 
success  is  here  solved  by  the  Roman  sculptor,  who  contrives 
to  produce  the  illusion  of  a  scene  taking  place  in  the  open 
air — as  though  a  window  had  been  thrown  open  in  the  solid 
marble.  Such  is  the  famous  criticism  passed  by  Wickhoff  on 
these  reliefs.  In  some  details  of  his  argument  he  is  wrong. 
It  is  not  true,  for  example,  that  the  natural  play  of  light  and 
shadow  was  ingeniously  provided  for  in  order  to  heighten  the 
illusion,  for  it  is  inevitable  that  some  cf  the  shadows  thrown 
by  the  figures  in  the  foreground  should  fall  on  the  wall  and 
destroy  to  some  extent  the  open-air  impression  :  but  it  is 
none  the  less  true  that  spatial  illusion  is  achieved  in  a 
manner  hitherto  unexampled  in  ancient  sculpture. 

From  the  Arch  of  Titus  the  ancient  roadway  leads  up  to  the 
Palatine,  which  cannot,  however,  be  entered  from  this  side, 
as  it  was  in  antiquity  by  the  Porta  Mugonia.  We  know 
that  the  Temple  of  Jupiter  Stator,  the  "  Stayer  of  the 
rout,"  who,  according  to  legend,  checked  the  victorious 
advance  of  the  Latins  at  this  point  in  response  to  the  prayers 
of  Romulus.  To  the  S.E.  of  the  Arch  of  Titus  are  the 
foundations  of  a  temple  upon  which  in  the  Middle  Ages  the 
Torre  Cartularia  (Tower  of  Archives)  was  built.  These  may 
well  have  belonged  to  the  Temple  of  Jupiter  Stator  in  its 
latest  form  :  it  is  thought  that  some  early  foundations  of 
tufa  which  have  been  exposed  immediately  to  the  E.  of  the 
arch  are  those  of  the  original  sanctuary. 

On  the  W.  side  of  the  road,  which  now  leads  directly  up 
to  the  Palatine,  are  other  early  foundations  of  tufa,  together 
with  a  few  blocks  of  travertine  belonging  to  the  super- 
structure ;  these  may  perhaps  have  been  those  of  the 
Temple  of  the  Lares,  which  we  know  to  have  stood  "  at  the 


v.]  THE  SACRED    WAY  83. 

highest  point  of  the  Sacred  Way,"  and  the  excavations,which 
have  been  carried  to  a  considerable  depth  in  this  region, 
have  brought  to  light  the  remains  of  a  Republican  house 
with  a  number  of  small  rooms  and  passages.  The  traces  of 
its  wall-paintings  which  remain  are  noticeable  on  account  of 
their  Dionysiac  emblems. 

The  approach  to  the  Palatine  by  the  Sacred  Hill  is  now 
blocked  ;  but  we  may  turn  to  the  R.  along  the  line  of  the 
Nova  Via  or  "  New  Street,"  which  skirted  the  slope  of  the 
hill.  Here,  again,  the  true  level  of  the  ancient  pavement, 
which  had  been  buried  in  mediaeval  times,  has  only  been 
recovered  in  recent  years.  Above  us  on  the  left  are  the 
substructures  of  the  Imperial  Palace,  whose  arcades  extended 
across  the  lower  part  of  the  street  (which  passes  behind  the 
upper  floor  of  the  House  of  the  Vestals)  and  made  it  into  a 
tunnel.  In  the  sunless  chambers  of  this  huge  barrack-like 
structure  were  housed  the  army  of  slaves  and  dependents 
attached  to  the  Imperial  Court.  There  is  a  stairway  by 
which  we  can  descend  to  the  House  of  the  Vestals  ;  at  a 
short  distance  beyond  this  the  road  is  blocked  by  the  Chapel 
of  the  Forty  Martyrs.  From  this  point  the  inclined  way 
mentioned  above  led  in  ancient  times  past  the  back  of  the 
precinct  of  Juturna  to  the  Forum  :  to  the  left  is  the  zigzag 
ramp  which  leads  down  to  the  church  of  S.  Maria  Antiqua 
and  up  to  the  higher  levels  of  the  Palatine.  The  entrance 
to  the  latter  is  closed  on  week-days. 


VI 

THE  PALATINE 

r  T  T  has  been  explained  above  (p.  5)  that  the  Palatine 
L  X  ^^i^^  was,  according  to  legend,  the  site  of  the  earliest 
settlement  of  the  Latin  stock  in  Rome.  The  name  which 
it  bore— Palatium— is  connected  with  that  of  the  shepherd's 
divinity,  Pales,  and  seems  to  have  been  properly  applied 
only  to  the  eastern  half  of  the  hill,  which  was  separated  by 
a  depression  running  from  N.E.  to  S.W.  from  the  western 
half,  known  as  the  Cermalus,  The  legends  relating  to  the 
foundation  of  the  Palatine  city  are  all  connected  with  the 
south=western  angle  of  the  hill.  Here  it  was  that  the 
basket  which  contained  the  twins,  Romulus  and  Remus, 
was  washed  ashore  by  the  Tiber  at  the  spot  where  grew  the 
Sacred  f\g=tree—/icus  ruminalis — afterwards  miraculously 
transplanted  to  the  Comitium.  Here,  too,  was  the  Lupercal 
— the  lair  of  the  she'=wolf  who  suckled  the  twins  ;  and  above 
it  was  the  hut  of  the  shepherd,  Paustulus,  who  became 
the  foster-father  of  Romulus  and  Remus,  and  the  **  house 
of  Romulus''  itself.  The  Auguratorium,  or  platform 
upon  which  Romulus  stood  to  take  the  auspices,  and  the 
cherry-tree  which  sprang  from  the  lance  which  he  hurled 
from  the  Aventine,  were  also  in  this  region.  These  hallowed 
sites  were  carefully  preserved  from  desecration — the  sanc- 
tuary of  the  Lupercal,  for  instance,  was  restored  by  Augustus, 
and  although  it  is  not  possible  to  identify  the  remains  dis- 
covered in  modern  times  with  any  of  them,  it  is  scarcely  an 
accident  that  the  most  ancient  structures  yet  found  upon 
the  hill  are  to  be  seen  near  this  angle. 

84 


VI.]  THE  PALATINE  85 

During  the  Republican  period  the  Palatine  became  a 
fashionable  residential  quarter,  especially  upon  the  slopes 
which  everlooked  the  Forum  and  Velabrum.  Here  was  the 
house  of  Cicero,  which  had  once  belonged  to  Livius  Drusus, 
the  champion  of  the  Italian  allies,  and  afterwards  to  the 
orator  M.  Licinius  Crassus  :  here,  too,  lived  Cicero's  grea 
rival  at  the  bar,  Hortensius,  and  his  bitterest  enemy,  Clodius 
The  Emperor  Augustus  was  born  in  the  street  of  "  the  ox 
heads,"  near  the  north-eastern  corner  :  and  there  is  still  pre 
served  a  house  which  may  have  been  inherited  by  his  con 
sort  Livia  from  her  first  husband,. Tiberius  Claudius  Nero 
Temples,  again,  such  as  that  of  the  Great  Mother  of  the 
Gods  and  of  Jupiter  the  Victorious,  were  built,  chiefly  on 
the  southern  side  of  the  hill,  and  some  remains  of  them 
may  yet  be  traced. 

Under  the  Empire  practically  the  whole  of  the  hill  ex- 
cept those  parts  which  were  hallowed  by  tradition  or  by  the 
presence  of  temples  was  converted  into  an  Imperial  resi- 
dence. The  process  was  begun  by  Augustus,  who,  after  the 
murder  of  Julius  Caesar,  bought  the  house  which  had  be- 
longed to  the  orator  Hortensius,  and  gradually  enlarged  it 
by  the  purchase  of  adjoining  property.  This  residence  was, 
however,  burnt  in  23  B.C.  and  rebuilt  on  a  more  magnificent 
scale,  partly  by  funds  publicly  subscribed.  There  are  no 
certain  remains  of  the  palace  of  Augustus  now  in  existence  : 
as  will  be  seen,  the  Flavian  state-rooms  rest  upon  the  ruins 
of  earlier  buildings,  occupying  the  central  depression  of  the 
hill,  but  we  cannot  be  sure  that  these  belong  to  the  house  of 
Augustus,  which  seems  to  have  been  burnt  in  the  great  fire  ot 
A.D.  64.  Tiberius  built  a  fresh  palace  on  the  western  edge 
of  the  hill,  which  Caligula  temporarily  connected  with  the 
Capitol  by  a  huge  bridge  resting  on  the  Temple  of  Augustus 
and  the  Basilica  Julia  as  its  piers  :  this  was  of  course  de- 
stroyed after  his  murder.  We  do  not  hear  of  buildings 
erected  by  Nero  on  the  Palatine  itself— his  Golden  House 
extended  across  the  Velia  to  the  slope  of  the  Esquiline — but 
the  great  suite  of  state-rooms  which  extends  across  the  cen- 
tral part  of  the  hill  is  the  work  of  the  Flavian  dynasty,  most 


86  THE  PALATINE  [vi. 

probably  of  Domitian,  to  whom  we  may  also  ascribe  the 
partially  excavated  building  immediately  to  the  E.  of  these, 
as  well  as  the  so-called  Stadium  in  its  original  form.  The 
Imperial  residence  was  again  enlarged  by  Hadrian,  whose 
additions  to  the  palace  of  Tiberius  were  carried  on  arches 
across  the  Nova  Via  till  they  adjoined  the  Houseof  the  Vestals : 
he  also  built  largely  to  the  E.  of  the  "  Stadium."  Finally, 
Septimius  Severus  raised  a  mighty  structure  at  the  S.  E. 
corner  of  the  hill,  building  partly  on  the  palace  of  Hadrian, 
partly  on  an  artificial  platform  carried  on  high  arches.  The 
Septizodium,  whose  remains  might  still  be  seen  in  the 
sixteenth  century,  formed  a  monumental  fagade  on  this  side 
of  the  palace. 

No  further  extension  of  the  Imperial  residence  was  now 
possible,  for  the  N.E.  part  of  the  hill  was  occupied  by  the 
temple  and  precinct  of  Apollo,  built  by  Augustus  to  the 
divinity  who  presided  over  the  fortunes  of  the  Imperial 
house,  in  which  were  kept  the  Sibylline  books  :  and  the 
Area  Palatina^  or  Palatine  piazza,  to  which  the  Sacred 
Hill  led  up  from  the  Forum,  was  always  kept  free  from 
buildings.] 

The  entrance  to  the  Palatine  excavations  is  in  the  Via  di 
San  Teodoro,  close  to  the  church  of  that  name.  The  street 
follows  the  line  of  the  Vicus  Tuscus,  or  Street  of  the 
Etruscans,  already  mentioned  in  the  description  of  the 
Forum,  which  led  into  the  Velabrum,  a  place  of  traffic  and 
merchandise,  whose  name  is  perpetuated  in  that  of  the 
church  of  S.  Giorgio  in  Velabro. 

We  find  ourselves  on  a  road  which  slopes  gradually  upward 
from  the  S.W.  to  the  N.W.  angle  of  the  hill.  This  road  corre- 
sponds fairly  closely  with  the  course  of  the  ancient  **  Hill  of 
Victory"  {clivus  Victoria:),  which  was  so  named  from  the 
Temple  of  Victory,  which  was  built  in  294  B.C.,  but  was  tradi- 
tionally declared  to  be  earlier  than  the  time  of  Romulus.  The 
Porta  Romana,  or  "Gate  of  Rome,"  which,  according  to 
Varro,  was  the  only  entrance  to  the  Palatine  city,  except  the 
Porta  Mugonia,  on  the  side  of  the  Velia  (p.  83),  is  said  to  have 


VI.]  THE  PALATINE  ,  87 

been  "at  the  bottom  of  the  Hill  of  Victory";  and  if  this 
statement  be  taken  literally,  we  must  infer  that  the  defences 
of  the  primitive  settlement  ran,  not  along  the  top  of  the  hill, 
but  partly  at  least  around  its  base.  It  was  not  an  un- 
common practice  in  early  times  to  build  a  gateway  in  such 


Nova        Via 


T)    Entrance 


Teodoro 

o  • 


Addirions     to 
'alac»    of   Tibenua 


T.ber 


Temple  of 

"0 


Area 
Palahna 


Flav 


Roor 


Precinct 
of 

Apollo 


Mills 


THE    PALATINE 


of 
Sephimius     Severns 


a  position  that  if  the  enemy  effected  an  entrance,  he  might 
yet  be  enfiladed  on  the  right  side  whilst  ascending  a  slope  ; 
and  this  principle  may  well  have  been  applied  here.  More- 
over, the  line  of  the  primitive  Pomerium  of  Rome,  the 
course  of  which  is  carefully  described  for  us  by  the  historian 
Tacitus,  followed  that  of  the  valleys  which  surround  the 
Palatine  ;  its  southern  angles  were  marked  by  the  altar  of 


88  THE  PALATINE  [vi. 

Hercules,  which  was  near  the  church  of  S.  Maria  in 
Cosmedin  (p.  266),  and  the  altar  of  Consus,  at  the  E.  end 
of  the  Circus  Maximus  (p.  257).  The  memory  of  this 
ancient  boundary  was  kept  alive  by  the  curious  ceremony 
of  the  Lupercalia,  celebrated  on  the  15th  of  February,  when 
the  college  of  priests  called  Luperci,  dressed  only  in  goat- 
skins and  brandishing  leathern  thongs,  with  which  they 
struck  the  passers-by,  ran  round  the  line  of  the  pomerium. 
It  does  not,  however,  necessarily  follow  from  this  fact  that 
the  base  of  the  hill  was  put  into  a  state  of  defence  ;  for  the 
pomerium  was  an  ideal  boundary — a  sacred  strip  of  land  on 
either  side  of  the  furrow  traced  by  the  founder's  plough  in 
the  ritual  prescribed  for  the  planting  of  a  new  settlement, 
whereas  the  line  of  defence  must  have  been  determined  by 
practical  necessity. 

As  we  pass  along  the  western  slope  of  the  hill,  which  is 
faced  by  huge  walls  of  concrete  dating  from  the  Early 
Empire,  we  see  on  our  L.  some  remains  of  early  tufa 
masonry,  which  may  perhaps  have  belonged  to  the  Temple 
of  Victory  itself,  though  there  is  no  proof  of  the  fact. 
Somewhat  nearer  to  the  S.W.  angle  of  the  hill  we  come  to 
a  well-preserved  piece  of  wall,  which  is  very  similar  in  its 
construction  to  the  "  Servian "  wall  as  it  may  be  seen  near 
the  railway  station,  the  blocks  of  brown  tufa  being  laid  in 
alternate  courses  of  headers  and  stretchers.  At  the  angle 
itself  we  can  see  not  only  a  piece  of  the  same  wall,  which 
here  serves  as  backing  to  the  later  concrete,  but  a  few 
courses  of  an  earlier  wall,  made  of  smaller  blocks,  which 
are  of  a  grey-green  colour.  This  variety  of  tufa  is  called 
cappellaccio,  and  does  not  seem  to  have  been  quarried  on 
the  Palatine  itself,  from  which  the  brown  tufa  used  in  later 
times  was  dug.  The  earlier  wall  cannot  be  dated  with  any 
certainty  :  in  style  and  material  it  resembles  the  earliest 
buildings  on  Roman  soil,  such  as  those  in  the  Comitium 
(p.  53),  but  it  is  misleading  to  speak  of  it  as  the  "wall  of 
Romulus,"  if  the  name  be  taken  to  imply  that  it  formed 
part  of  the  primitive  defences  of  the  Palatine  settlement. 
The  outer  wall  so  closely  resembles   the  "Servian"  walls 


VI.]  THE  PALATINE  89 

of  the  fourth  century  that  we  can  hardly  be  wrong  in  assign- 
ing it  to  that  date.  It  would  seem  to  follow  that  the 
Palatine  (like  the  Capitol,  see  p.  354)  formed  an  inner 
citadel  within  the  lines  of  fortification  which  surrounded 
Rome. 

Passing  round  the  corner  of  the  hill  we  notice  on  the  L. 
of  the  road  an  altar  of  travertine  bearing  an  inscription 
which  tells  us  how  it  was  restored  by  C.  Sextius  Calvinus  as 
praetor  (probably  about  100  B.C.),  and  was  dedicated  "to 
God  or  Goddess,  whichever  it  be."  It  has  been  suggested 
that  this  was  the  altar  set  up  in  commemoration  of  the 
mysterious  voice  which  warned  the  Romans  of  the  approach 
of  the  Gauls,  but  there  is  no  ground  for  the  conjecture  ; 
that  altar  was  dedicated  to  Aius  Locuiius,  "  the  being  who 
spake  and  uttered,"  and  must  have  stood  at  some  distance 
from  this  spot.  We  now  climb  by  a  winding  path  to  the 
top  of  the  hill  and  find  ourselves  on  the  edge  of  the  central 
depression.  Turning  back  towards  the  S.W.  angle  we  pass 
the  foundations  of  a  large  temple  approached  by  flights 
of  steps.  This  was  probably  the  Temple  of  Jupiter 
Victor,  dedicated  after  the  battle  of  Sentinum  (295  B.C.) 
by  the  dictator  Q.  Fabius  Maximus.  A  little  farther  on 
we  reach  the  edge  of  a  slope  overlooking  the  excavations 
of  recent  years,  which  have  brought  to  light  a  mass  of 
constructions,  some  of  them  of  early  date,  which  are  ex- 
tremely difficult  of  comprehension.  Immediately  below  us 
a  narrow  road  enclosed  by  walls  of  tufa  leads  towards  the 
edge  of  the  hill,  showing  traces  of  a  gateway  and  a  flight 
of  steps  cut  in  the  rock.  These  may  be  identified  with  the 
Scalae  Caci^  or  ♦*  Stairs  of  Cacus,"  named  after  an  ancient 
Italian  fire-god,  who  became  in  later  mythology  a  robber, 
whose  cave  was  at  the  base  of  the  cliff  and  who  was  slain 
by  Hercules.  Just  below  the  steps  a  cross  street  diverges 
to  the  west  ;  the  buildings  on  either  side  of  this  were 
largely  constructed  with  the  tufa  blocks  taken  from  earlier 
structures.  In  the  angle  formed  by  this  street  and  the 
Stairs  of  Cacus  may  be  seen  the  remains  of  early  buildings 
and  some  circular  pits  and  channels  cut  in  the  rock,  which 


90  THE  PALATINE  [vi. 

have  been  explained  either  as  the  remains  of  early  dwel- 
lings or  as  primitive  tombs.  The  potsherds  found  at  the 
same  level  are  nearly  all  of  the  same  character  as  the  vases 
from  the  necropolis  by  the  Sacred  Way  ;  but  one  tomb  was 
discovered  containing  a  Greek  vase  of  the  fourth  century 
B.C.,  and  this  lay  beneath  a  piece  of  tufa  walling  bearing 
mason's  marks  similar  to  those  of  the  "  Servian"  walls.  At 
the  top  of  the  road  leading  down  to  the  "  Stairs  of 
Cacus"  will  be  seen  a  cross-wall  constructed  in  masonry 
of  various  periods — one  piece  at  the  eastern  end  is  in  the 
early  type,  which  we  met  with  at  the  angle  of  the  hill, 
formed  of  small  blocks  of  cappellaccio.  Above  this  cross- 
wall  are  the  foundations  (in  tufa)  of  a  sanctuary  which 
cannot  be  identified  ;  it  may  have  marked  one  of  the  holy 
sites  such  as  the  house  of  Romulus.  The  east  wall  cuts 
through  a  very  early  cistern,  built  with  a  kind  of  corbelled 
vault  formed  by  overlapping  blocks  of  tufa  and  lined  with 
cement.  Another  cistern  constructed  with  upright  slabs  of 
tufa  held  in  place  by  a  backing  of  rammed  clay  may  be 
seen  to  the  W.  of  the  sanctuary  just  mentioned.  All  these 
indications  point  to  the  fact  that  a  very  early  settlement — 
perhaps  the  earliest  on  the  Palatine — existed  at  this  corner 
of  the  hill.  We  also  see  the  concrete  foundations  of  two 
temples  ;  the  smaller  of  these  cannot  be  identified,  but  the 
larger,  upon  which  evergreen  oaks  and  cypresses  have  been 
planted,  was  that  of  Cybele,  the  Great  Mother  of  the 
Gods,  whose  worship  was  introduced  into  Rome  in  204  B.C., 
when  her  fetish,  a  conical  black  stone,  was  brought  from 
Pessinus  in  Galatia  in  obedience  to  the  injunctions  of  the 
Sibylline  books.  Beside  the  podium  will  be  seen  part  of  a 
colossal  seated  figure  representing  the  goddess,  and  some 
fragmentary  columns  oi  peperino.  If  these  are  examined, 
it  will  be  noticed  that  the  stucco  with  which  the  unsightly 
material  was  covered  adheres  to  them  in  places,  and  also 
that  more  than  one  coat  can  be  traced,  showing  that  the 
mouldings  were  restored  from  time  to  time.  We  know  in 
fact  that  the  temple  was  restored  in  iii  B.C.  and  also  by 
Augustus.     The  platform  in  front  of  the  temple,  where  the 


VI.]  THE  PALATINE  91 

Liidi  Megalenses,  or  "games  of  the  Great  Goddess,"  were 
celebrated  in  April,  was  approached  by  a  flight  of  steps  with 
wings,  of  which  portions  remain. 

The  high  platform  to  the  N.  of  the  temples  is  that  upon 
which  the  Palace  of  Tiberius  stood ;  but  before  we  ascend  it, 
we  turn  down  a  covered  passage  leading  into  the  courtyard 
of  a  house  upon  which  three  rooms  open.  This  part  of  the 
house  is  at  a  lower  level  than  the  rooms  to  the  E.,  which 
were  connected  with  it  by  a  narrow  staircase  and  corridor, 
now  blocked.  It  is  thought  that  the  eastern  portion  was  the 
fore-part  of  the  house  ;  in  that  case  the  courtyard  could  not 
rightly  he  described  as  an  atrium^  for  this  name  properly 
belongs  to  the  forecourt  of  a  Roman  dwelling.  But  it  is 
not  quite  certain  that  the  house  really  fronted  eastward,  and 
the  court  with  three  rooms  opening  upon  it  in  any  case  gives 
a  good  impression  of  what  a  Roman  atrium  was  like.  The 
central  room  to  the  E.  corresponds  with  the  tablinum^  or 
"office,"  and  the  side-rooms  may  be  called  the  alae^  or 
"  wings,"  though  this  term  should  rather  be  apphed  to  side- 
chambers  projecting  from  the  court.  These  rooms  preserve 
considerable  traces  of  their  original  decoration  in  fresco, 
which  is  typical  of  that  generally  employed  in  the  houses  of 
'the  wealthy  at  the  close  of  the  Republic  and  beginning 
of  the  Imperial  period.  The  style  is  that  described  by 
archaeologists  as  "architectural,"  in  which  perspectives  of 
painted  architecture  are  introduced  in  order  to  give  an  illu- 
sion of  surrounding  space.  The  most  interesting  and  char- 
acteristic are  those  on  the  R.  wall  of  the  central  room. 
All  the  central  portion  of  this  wall  appears  to  be  covered 
with  a  kind  of  screen  with  free  columns,  an  architrave  and 
pediment,  beneath  which  is  a  large  panel,  on  which  is 
painted  lo  seated  at  the  foot  of  a  column  crowned  by  a 
statue  of  Hera.  To  the  R.  is  Hermes  (whose  name  is 
painted  beside  him  in  Greek  characters) ;  to  the  left  Argus, 
the  sleepless  watchman  set  to  guard  lo.  Is  this  scene  to  be 
regarded  as  a  picture  framed  by  the  screen,  or  as  a  view  of 
outer  space  ?  We  could  scarcely  answer  this  question  were 
it  not  that  the  wall  paintings  of  the  buried  cities'and  villas 


92  THE  PALATINE  [vi. 

of  Campania,  such  as  Pompeii  and  Bosco  Reale,  enable 
us  to  trace  the  evolution  of  this  style  of  decoration.  Origin- 
ally the  intention  of  the  artist  was  solely  to  give  to  the  be- 
holder the  illusion  of  an  outlook  into  surrounding  space. 
Mythological  subjects  were  not  represented,  but  a  rustic 
shrine  or  temple  made  a  fitting  centre  for  the  design.  Then 
the  decorator  became  more  ambitious,  and  subjects  taken 
from,  or  inspired  by,  the  higher  art  of  the  time  were  put  in 
the  place  of  prominence,  and  the  rest  of  the  design  was  sub- 
ordinated to  them  ;  the  tricks  of  illusory  perspective-paint- 
ing became  of  small  importance.  They  were  not,  however, 
given  up  :  observe  that  at  the  sides  of  the  screen  we  are 
given  an  outlook  upon  streets  and  buildings  which  it  would 
be  hard  to  bring  into  relation  with  the  central  group.  We 
shall  see  other  examples  of  this  style  of  decoration  in  the 
Museo  delle  Terme  (p.  216). 

The  other  wall-paintings  of  the  house  are  also  worthy  of 
attention.  On  the  centre  of  the  back  wall  of  the  tabH?tti7n 
we  see  Qalatea  carried  across  the  sea  by  a  hippocamp, 
with  the  disconsolate  Polyphemus  on  the  shore  ;  but  this- 
has  been  in  great  part  obliterated.  The  decorations  of.  the 
side  rooms  are  simpler,  but  not  less  effective,  especially  that 
of  the  room  on  the  R.,  which  has  a  painted  colonnade 
hung  with  festoons  of  flowers  and  fruit,  as  well  as  masks 
and  Dionysiac  symbols.  On  the  right-hand  of  the  court 
is  the  entrance  to  a  chamber  described — probably  rightly — 
in  the  inscription  over  the  entrance  as  the  triclinium  or 
dining-room.  The  wall-paintings  in  this  transport  us  into 
an  imaginary  landscape  with  rustic  shrines,  and  thus  illus- 
trate the  growth  of  the  "  architectural "  style  explained  above 
out  of  a  simpler  scheme  of  decoration. 

There  are  several  rooms,  grouped  about  a  court  with  a 
staircase  in  the  midst,  at  the  back  of  those  described.  They 
are  connected  with  the  atrium  by  a  narrow  staircase,  now 
blocked,  and  can  only  be  entered  from  the  higher  level  on 
which  they  stand.  It  is  doubtful  whether  this  was  really  the 
front  of  the  house  (see  above). 

It  is  clear  that  this  house  was  carefully  preserved  when 


VI.]  THE  PALATINE  93 

other  buildings  in  its  neighbourhood  were  destroyed  to  make 
room  for  the  imperial  palaces  ;  and  this  may  be  explained 
if  we  identify  it  as  the  House  of  Livia,  the  consort  of 
Augustus,  inherited  by  her  from  her  first  husband,  Tiberius 
Claudius  Nero.  In  one  of  the  rooms  may  be  seen  an 
ancient  lead  pipe  bearing  the  inscription :  ivliae  avg 
{ustae),  and  the  name  is  probably  that  of  Livia,  who  was 
adopted  into  the  Julian  family.  The  house  has  also  been 
identified  with  the  "  House  of  Germanicus,"  in  which  some 
of  the  murderers  of  Caligula  took  refuge  ;  but  this  is  mere 
guesswork. 

We  return  to  the  passage  which  skirts  the  platfortai  of  the 
Palace  of  Tiberius.  This  was  originally  a  covered  cor- 
ridor, or  cryptoporticus^  and  those  portions  of  the  roof  which 
are  extant  still  preserve  traces  of  decoration  in  gilded  and 
painted  stucco.  In  this  corridor  Caligula  was  murdered  by 
the  officers  of  the  praetorian  guard  who  had  conspired 
against  him  on  January  24,  A.D.  41.  To  the  left  a  flight  of 
steps  leads  up  to  the  top  of  the  platform  now  occupied  by 
the  Farnese  gardens,  and  it  is  worth  while  to  walk  as  far  as 
the  N.W.  corner  of  the  hill  in  order  to  enjoy  the  view  of  the 
Capitol,  Forum,  etc.  We  are  told  that  Caligula  connected 
this  palace  with  the  Capitol  by  means  of  a  colossal  bridge, 
using  the  Temple  of  Augustus  (p.  65)  and  the  Basihca 
Julia  (p.  49)  as  piers,  and  making  the  Temple  of  Castor 
and  Pollux  (p.  64)  into  its  vestibule ;  and"  it  is  easy  to 
understand  his  plan  from  the  point  which  we  have  reached. 
The  bridge  was  destroyed  after  Caligula's  murder, -but  later 
emperors — probably  the  Flavians  and  Hadrian — exteijjded 
the  palace  at  its  northern  end,  raising  an  artificial  {)latform 
on  arches  and  vaults.  This  edge  of  the  hill  had  up  till  this 
time  been  covered  with  private  jiouses,  amongst  others  that 
of  Cicero,  which  Pliny  mentions  as  still  existing  in  his  day. 
Below  us  we  can  see  two  streets — the  upper  is  the  continua- 
tion of  the  Hill  of  Victory,  the  lower  the  Nova  Via— both  of 
1  which  were  arched  over  by  the  substructures  of  the  later 
I  palace.  Returning  towards  the  centre  of  the  hill  we  ap- 
'  broach  the  remains  of  the  great  state-rooms  which  occupy 

ft 


94  THE  PALATINE  [vi. 

the  central  depression  ;  these  may  also  be  reached  by  a 
branch  of  the  covered  corridor  already  mentioned.  These 
state-rooms  are  generally  known  as  the  Domus  Flavia,  or 
"house  of  the  Flavians,"  but  there  is  no  ancient  authority 
for  this  name,  and  though  there  is  reason  to  think  that  they 
were  built  by  the  emperors  of  that  dynasty,  they  certainly 
formed  only  a  part  of  a  great  palace  which,  as  inscriptions 
show,  was  called  the  Domus  Augustana,  or  "house  of 
Augustus,"  the  name  being  used  generically  for  "the 
Emperor."  On  the  north  the  state-rooms  were  faced  by  a 
portico  of  cipollino  columns,  which  also  extended  for  some 
distance  along  the  sides.  The  bases  of  these  may  be  seen, 
and  at  the  N.W.  angle  a  column  of  travertine  patched  with 
cipollino  has  been  set  up.  Behind  the  portico  were  three 
rooms  :  the  central  of  these,  which  was  much  the  largest,  is 
generally  called  the  throne-room,  since  at  the  southern 
end  there  was  an  apse  in  which  the  Emperor's  throne  stood. 
There  were  also  niches,  which  once  contained  colossal 
statues  of  basalt,  in  the  side-walls,  and  columns  of  pavonaz- 
zetio^  about  twenty-five  feet  high,  stood  at  intervals  all  round 
the  walls.  The  room  was  roofed  with  a  barrel-vault,  coffered 
and  gilded.  To  the  west  of  this  is  a  room  known  as  the 
basilica,  and  believed  to  have  been  the  hall  in  which  the 
Emperor  dispensed  justice.  There  are  in  fact  traces  of  a 
tribunal  in  the  apse  at  the  S.  end,  and  of  a  marble  screen 
by  which  it  was  railed  off ;  and  along  each  side  of  the 
room  was  a  row  of  granite  columns  which  carried  galleries 
and  divided  the  hall  into  a  nave  and  aisles.  There  is  thus  a 
striking  resemblance  to  the  plan  of  a  Christian  basilica,  and 
the  theory  that  the  plan  of  such  buildings  was  derived  from 
that  of  this  and  similar  halls  of  justice,  though  it  has 
provoked  much  criticism  in  recent  years,  has  much  to 
commend  it.  Like  the  early  Christian  basilicas,  this  hall 
was  originally  roofed  with  timber,  but  in  late  times  a  concrete 
vault  was  constructed  and  massive  piers  added  for  its 
support. 

To  the  east  of  the  throne-room  is  a  chamber  somewhat 
smaller  than  the  basilica,  in  which  was  found  an  altar  (now 


VI.]  THE  PALATINE  95 

destroyed)  approached  by  a  flight  of  steps.  For  this  reason 
it  has  been  called  the  Lararium,  or  chapel  of  the  House- 
hold Gods.  Behind  it  are  smaller  rooms  from  which  a  stair- 
case led  to  an  upper  floor. 

We  next  pass  to  the  Central  Court  or  Peristyle,  once  sur- 
rounded by  a  colonnade,  whose  columns  were  oi portasanta^ 
with  bases  and  capitals  of  white  marble,  surmounted  by  an 
open  gallery  with  columns  of  porphyry  and  granite.  To  the 
west  of  it  are  a  series  of  small  ante-rooms,  and  there  were 
probably  others  symmetrically  planned  on  the  opposite  side 
which  is  as  yet  unexcavated.  In  the  peristyle  is  a  flight  of 
steps  leading  down  to  the  remains  of  a  house  which  was 
incorporated  in  the  foundations  of  the  Flavian  palace. 
Remains  of  its  painted  ceilings  may  still  be  seen,  since  it 
was  left  intact  except  for  the  massive  foundation-walls  of 
concrete  which  cut  through  it.  The  process  by  which  such 
concrete  was  laid,  described  on  p.  i6,  may  easily  be  under- 
stood if  we  examine  these  walls  ;  the  traces  of  the  frame- 
work of  beams  and  planks  into  which  the  fluid  mass  was  run 
are  evident.  In  the  eighteenth  century  much  finer  remains 
of  earlier  rooms  were  found  under  the  northern  part  of  the 
palace,  especially  the  basilica,  and  it  is  not  unlikely  that  part 
at  least  of  this  space  was  occupied  by  the  house  of  Augustus. 
Beyond  the  peristyle  is  a  large  apartment  identified  as  the 
state  banqueting-room,  triclinium  or  cenaiio  lovis,  as  it  is 
called  in  the  Historia  Augusta.  At  the  south  end  was  an 
apse,  which  may  have  contained  the  Emperor's  dining-table. 
Some  traces  of  the  sumptuous  decoration  in  coloured  marble 
with  which  the  whole  of  the  palace  was  enriched  may  be 
seen  in  this  room.  The  pavement  of  the  apse,  which  is 
formed  of  slabs  of  porphyry  and  coloured  marbles,  is  in  part 
well  preserved.  To  the  west  of  the  triclinium  is  a 
Nymphaeum,  in  the  centre  of  which  we  see  the  oval  base  of 
a  fountain^  whose  miniature  cascades  flowed  into  the  sur- 

■  rounding  channel.  The  room  also  contains  niches  for 
statues,  and  was  no  doubt  decorated  with  flowers  and  filled 
with  birds.     A  similar  fountain  existed  on  the  east  side  of 

H^  triclinium  and  is  buried  under  the  Villa  Mills.     Passing 


96  THE  PALATINE  [vi. 

out  of  the  triclinium  at  the  corner  we  find  ourselves  on  a 
platform  to  the  S.  of  which  were  two  halls  with  curved  ends, 
the  use  of  which  is  uncertain.  They  have  been  named  the 
"Academy"  and  "Library."  The  platform  rests  partly  on 
tufa  foundations  and  we  can  descend  into  a  subterranean 
corridor  running  between  the  Flavian  building  and  the 
Temple  of  Jupiter  already  mentioned,  and  leading  to  tufa- 
quarries  of  early  date. 

Returning  to  the  Lararium  (see  above),  we  may  pass 
through  a  gate  into  the  Villa  Mills,  which  until  quite 
recently  was  used  as  a  convent,  and  was  therefore  in- 
accessible to  visitors.  In  this  region  were  the  dwelling- 
rooms  of  the  Domus  Augustana^  which  still  for  the  most 
part  await  excavation.  This  part  of  the  palace  had  two 
storeys,  and  some  walls  belonging  to  the  upper  floor  are  in- 
corporated in  the  convent.  Here,  too,  were  discovered  in 
1907  faint  traces  of  Christian  frescoes  which  seem  to  point 
to  this  as  the  site  of  the  Chapel  of  S.  Cesareo  "  in  Palatio," 
built  by  the  Byzantine  exarchs.  From  the  grounds  of  the 
Villa  fine  views  may  be  seen,  especially  on  the  eastern  edge 
near  the  monastery  of  S.  Bonaventura  ^  (whose  solitary  palm 
is  one  of  the  landmarks  of  Rome),  and  also  to  the  S.  on 
the  brow  of  the  slope  facing  the  Aventine.  Behind  the 
convent  building  is  a  staircase  leading  down  to  the  only 
portion  of  the  Domus  Augustana  as  yet  excavated — a  court 
upon  which  open  three  rooms,  two  of  which  are  octagonal 
in  shape.  The  rooms  surrounding  the  court  were  excavated 
in  the  eighteenth  century,  but  their  remains  were  either 
destroyed  or  reburied.  In  the  E.  wall  of  the  court — 
roughly  stuccoed  in  imitation  of  marble  pannelling — will  be 
found  a  passage  which,  as  the  marks  on  its  walls  clearly 
show,  occupies  the  site  of  a  staircase  connecting  the  two 
floors  of  the  palace.  Throug^h  this  we  pass  in  to  the  build- 
ing commonly  known  as  the  Stadium.     It  was  natural  to 

^  Beyond  S.  Bonaventura  is  the  church  of  S.  Sebastiano,  which 
stands  on  the  site  of  the  great  Temple  of  Apollo,  built  by 
Augustus  in  commemoration  of  the  victory  of  Actium,  and  as  yet 
unexcavated. 


\i.J  THE  PALATINE  97 

see  in  this  circus-like  structure  an  Imperial  race-course  ;  but 
there  is  little  doubt  that  it  is  in  reality  the  hippodromus 
Palatii  of  which  we  hear  in  ancient  authorities,  and  further 
that  the  name  hippodromus  signifies,  not  a  race-course,  as 
might  naturally  be  thought,  but  a  formal  garden  of  that 
shape.  This  garden  was  originally  laid  out  by  Domitian  on 
the  eastern  side  of  his  palace,  and  later  emperors— prob- 
ably Hadrian  and  Septimius  Severus — altered  its  aspect  by 
adding  the  portico  in  two  stories  and  the  large  semicircular 
exedra  to  the  E.  The  lower  arcades  of  the  portico  were 
carried  by  piers  and  half-columns  of  brickwork  faced  with 
fluted  slabs  oi  portasanta;  the  fragments  of  cipollino  shafts 
which  lie  in  the  centre  of  the  open  space  belonged  to  the 
columns  of  the  upper  storey.  Under  the  large  apse  are 
three  rooms  with  faint  traces  of  frescoes.  In  the  southern 
half  of  the  Stadium  may  be  seen  a  large  oval  basin  of 
brickwork,  built  on  foundations  in  which  chips  of  coloured 
marble,  belonging  to  the  original  decoration  of  the  building, 
are  largely  used.  This  fact  would  suffice  to  show  that  the 
basin  is  of  late  date,  and  the  brick-stamps  found  therein 
show  that  it  was  the  work  of  Theodoric  the  Ostrogoth  (493- 
526).  Its  use  is  quite  uncertain.  The  ruins  of  the  Stadium 
were  plundered  in  the  sixteenth  century,  but  a  few  of  the 
statues  which  adorned  it  escaped  discovery,  and  were 
brought  to  light  in  the  latter  part  of  the  nineteenth  century. 
One — a  seated  female  figure  commonly  called  a  "  Muse,"  a 
replica  of  which  is  in  the  cloister  of  the  Museo  delle  Terme 
— has  been  left  in  a  recess  at  the  N.  end  of  the  Stadium. 
Between  the  exedra  and  the  N.E.  corner  is  a  staircase  which 
leads  to  the  level  of  the  upper  gallery  of  the  Stadium  ;  from 
the  top  of  this  staircase  we  may  turn  to  the  right,  and  pass- 
ing behind  the  exedra^  enter  the  remains  of  the  Palace  of 
Septimius  Severus,  built  partly  upon  a  suite  of  chambers 
added  by  Hadrian  on  the  E.  side  of  the  Stadium,  and  partly 
upon  a  huge  platform  carried  by  arcades.  Little  can  now 
be  seen  of  the  building  of  Severus  except  some  bathrooms, 
whose  walls  contain  the  flues  used  for  warming  their  atmo- 
sphere ;  but  it  is  well  worth  while  to  cross  the  bridge  which 

H 


98  THE  PALATINE  [vi. 

leads  to  the  outer  arcades  and  walk  to  the  S.E.  end  of  the 
platform  for  the  sake  of  the  view.  Not  far  off,  near  the 
angle  of  the  Palatine,  once  stood  the  Porta  Capena,  in 
the  "  Servian "  wall,  by  which  the  Via  Appia  issued  from 
the  city  ;  and  in  order  to  impress  the  traveller  approaching 
Rome  from  the  S.  with  a  sense  of  his  magnificence,  Severus 
built,  as  a  fagade  to  his  palace,  the  Septizodium  (or  Septi- 
zonium),  the  last  traces  of  which  were  destroyed  by  Sixtus  V 
in  1589.  The  form  of  this  strange  building  was  that  of 
three  semicircular  niches,  flanked  by  towers  and  faced  with 
tiers  of  columns.  It  has  been  supposed  that  there  were 
seven  of  these,  forming  seven  "  zones,"  which  symbolised 
the  spheres  of  the  seven  planets  ;  and  as  Severus  was  a 
firm  believer  in  astrology,  some  such  symbolism  was  un- 
doubtedly present.  But  the  correct  form  of  the  name  seems 
to  have  been  Septizodium,  or  the  House  of  the  Seven 
"Zodia,"  i.e.  the  planets,  which  implies  nothing  as  to  its 
architectural  design.     Probably  it  had  only  three  storeys. 

Recrossing  the  bridge  and  descending  by  a  staircase  to 
the  lower  level,  we  return  to  the  S.  entrance  of  the  Stadium, 
and  thence  take  a  sloping  path  along  the  edge  of  the  hill. 
Above  us  on  the  right  may  be  traced  the  outline  of  a  curved 
balcony  from  which  the  Imperial  party  could  watch  the 
games  in  the  Circus  Maximus.  That  this  does  not  date 
from  the  time  of  Augustus  himself  (as  has  often  been  sup- 
posed) is  proved  by  the  fact  that,  as  Suetonius  tells  us,  he 
used  to  watch  the  chariot-races  from  the  upper  floors  of  his 
friends'  houses  on  the  southern  slope  of  the  Palatine,  as  yet 
unoccupied  by  Imperial  buildings. 

We  soon  come  to  a  series  of  rooms  on  the  righf  hand, 
grouped  about  a  semicircular  recess,  and  faced  by  a  portico 
of  Corinthian  columns,  all  of  which  save  one  have  been 
replaced  by  brick  piers.  The  walls  in  these  chambers  are 
covered  with  sketches  and  signatures  drawn  in  the  plaster 
with  the  stilus.  The  most  famous  is  the  supposed  carica- 
ture of  the  Crucifixion,  removed  hence  in  1857  to  the  Museo 
Kircheriano  (p.  179).  This  building  is  generally  known  as 
the  psedagogium,  or  training-school  for  the  Imperial  pages, 


VI.]  THE  PALATINE  99 

on  the  ground  that  amongst  the  graffiti  we  find  such  as 
Coriiithus  exit  de  pcudagogio.  But  it  is  known  that  the 
pcEdagogium  was  situated  on  the  C^lian,  and  it  is  therefore 
more  Hkely  that  these  inscriptions  were  scratched  on  the 
walls  by  pages  recently  transferred  to  the  Imperial  palace. 
It  has  been  suggested  (with  less  likelihood)  that  the  rooms 
were  in  reality  used  for  the  incarceration  of  refractory  pages, 
and  that  '"'' padagogium  "  was  a  slang  term. 

This  completes  the  circuit  of  the  extant  remains  of  the 
Palatine,  and  we  return  past  the  altar  of  the  Unknown  God 
to  the  entrance.  At  the  foot  of  the  slope  adjoining  the 
circus  were  residences  assigned  to  Imperial  officials.  One 
of  these,  which  adjoins  the  "  Paedagogium,"  was  partly 
excavated  in  1888,  but  is  not  accessible  to  visitors.  It  has 
been  identified  with  the  domus  Gelotiana,  acquired  by 
Caligula  on  account  of  his  passion  for  the  chariot-races  of 
the  circus  ;  but  there  is  no  ground  for  this  supposition. 
There  are  considerable  remains  of  ancient  constructions 
beneath  the  church  of  S.  Anastasia,  at  the  S.W.  angle  of 
the  Palatine,  which  may  be  seen  by  permission  of  the 
authorities  of  the  church. 


VII. 

THE  CAPITOL 

f'nr^HE  name  Capitolium  properly  belongs  only  to  the 
[_  J_  southernmost  peak  of  the  hill  which,  though  now 
separated  from  the  Quirinal  by  the  valley  in  which  Trajan's 
forum  stood  (p.  155),  was  originally  connected  with  that 
height  by  a  low  saddle.  The  northern  summit  (now  crowned 
by  the  church  of  S.  Maria  in  Araceli)  was  known  as  the 
arx  or  "  citadel."  In  the  depression  between  the  two  peaks 
(now  the  Ficizza.  del  Campidoglio)  Romulus,  as  the  story 
ran,  founded  the  "  Asylum,"  or  place  of  refuge  for  outlaws 
and  "  broken  men,"  who  formed  so  large  a  part  of  his  new 
community  ;  but  the  hill  was  not  included  in  the  earliest 
city,  and  it  was  not  until  the  fusion  of  the  Palatine  and 
Quirinal  settlements  (p.  7)  that  it  was  chosen  to  be  the 
citadel  of  the  new  Rome  and  the  seat  of  its  chief  worship. 
This  was  the  Temple  of  Jupiter,  the  Best  and  Greatest, 
the  God  whom  the  Latin  allies  of  Rome  worshipped 
on  the  Alban  mount.  To  the  first  of  the  Etruscan  kings 
of  Rome,  Tarquinius  Priscus,  is  ascribed  the  building 
not  only  of  the  temple  of  Jupiter  Latiaris  on  the  Alban 
Mount,  but  also  of  that  of  Jupiter  the  best  and  greatest, 
together  with  the  two  female  divinities,  Juno  and  Minerva, 
who  made  up  the  triad  characteristic  of  Etruscan  theology, 
on  the  Capitol.  Its  dedication  was,  however,  reserved  for 
the  first  consul  of  Republican  Rome,  and  was  dated  Sep.  13, 
509  B.C.  It  was  the  sole  example  in  Rome  of  a  temple  in 
purely  "Tuscan"  style  (p.  25),  with  its  three  parallel  ce//(S 
faced  by  a  deep  portico  consisting  of  a  triple  row  of  columns. 


VII.]  THE   CAPITOL  loi 

The  form  was  preserved  at  6arh  ■'suQce95si^'C'e'-rf?st:ca-4t'f)r^  (Ice 
below,  p.  133  f.),  and  copied  (more  or  less  faithfully)  in  the 
"  Capitolia  "  set  up  in  the  colonies  of  the  Latinised  western 
provinces.  Some  remains  of  the  original  substructures  are 
to  be  seen  in  the  garden  of  the  German  Embassy  (Palazzo 
Caffarelli),  and  it  has  been  found  possible  to  determine 
approximately  the  dimensions  of  the  temple,  which  measured 
about  204  by  188  feet.  The  platform  upon  which  the 
temple  stood  was  called  the  Area  Capitolina,  and  was  like- 
wise supported  on  early  substructures,  some  traces  of  which 
are  visible  in  the  Palazzo  dei  Conservatori  (seep.  146).  It 
was  coextensive  with  the  southern  peak,  and  at  the  angle 
nearest  the  Tiber  was  the  Tarpeian  rock,  from  which 
criminals  were  hurled.  The  sheer  cliffs  may  be  seen  at 
various  points,  especially  in  the  garden  of  the  "  Casa 
Tarpea"  (Via  di  Monte  Tarpeo  25).  Traces  of  fortifications, 
both  of  early  date  and  of  the  "Servian"  style,  exist  at 
various  points,  e.g.  in  the  Via  delle  Tre  Pile,  the  winding 
road  by  which  carriages  ascend  to  the  Piazza  del  Cam- 
pidoglio.  Nothing  is  left  of  the  temple  of  Juno  Moneta 
("  the  Warner  ")  which  stood  on  the  Arx.  The  Capitol  was 
approached  from  the  Forum  by  the  Clivus  Capitolinus,  the 
line  of  which  is  marked  by  the  Porticus  Deorum  Consentium 
(see  above,  p.  49)  and  the  S.  wall  of  the  Tabularium.  There 
were  also  flights  of  steps— the  "hundred  steps"  near  the 
Tarpeian  rock,  and  the  Scalse  Gemonias,  or  "stairway  of 
sighs  "  which  led  down  to  the  prison  (p.  46)  on  the  line  of 
the  Via  dell'  Arco  di  Settimio  Severo  :  here  the  bodies  of 
criminals,  such  as  Sejanus  and  his  family,  or  murdered 
emperors,  like  Vitellius,  were  exposed.  The  modern  "  cor- 
donata  "  by  which  the  Piazza  del  Campidoglio  is  approached 
dates  from  the  sixteenth  century  and  is  part  of  the  .design 
of  Michelangelo.] 

We  climb  this  paved  slope  and  find  ourselves  in  the 
Piazza,  with  the  Palazzo  dei  Conservatori  upon  our  right, 
the  Museo  Capitolino  on  our  left,  and  the  Palazzo  del 
Senatore,  which  rises  above  the  ancient  Tabularium, 
presently  to  be  described,  in  front  of  us.     In  the  Middle 


I02  THE  CAPITOL  [vii. 

Ages'  the  only  relic  of  ancient  art  which  stood  here  was  the 
mutilated  group  of  a  lion  devouring  a  horse,  now  in  the 
Palazzo  dei  Conservator!  (p.  141)  which  marked  the  place 
where  death-sentences  were  promulgated  at  the  head  of  a 
stairway  leading  to  the  entrance  of  the  Palazzo  del  Senatore. 
Sixtus  IV  (1471-84)  determined  to  form  a  collection  of 
ancient  works  of  art  and  to  place  them  in  the  custody  of 
the  Conservatori,  whose  palace  had  been  rebuilt  by  Nicholas 
V  (1447-55).  In  the  Papal  palace  of  the  Lateran  were  a 
number  of  bronzes,  such  as  the  She-wolf  (p.  135),  the 
Camillus  (p.  144),  and  the  Boy  extracting  a  thorn  (p.  144), 
which  formed  the  nucleus  of  the  collection,  to  which 
additions  were  made  as  new  statues  or  fragments  were 
brought  to  light,  e.g.  the  fragments  of  a  colossal  statue, 
probably  of  Constantine  the  Great,  now  in  the  courtyard 
of  the  Palazzo  dei  Conservatori.  Roughly  speaking,  it  may 
be  said  that  the  Papal  Museum  of  the  Belvedere  (p.  270) 
inaugurated  by  Julius  II  (1503-13),  acquired  the  master- 
pieces of  art,  whilst  the  Capitoline  collection  was  enriched 
by  monuments  of  historical  significance. 

Michelangelo  came  to  Rome  in  1534,  and  was  com- 
missioned to  transform  the  piazza  into  an  ensemble  of 
buildings  and  monuments  worthy  of  so  august  a  site.  His 
design  took  more  than  a  century  to  execute,  and  suffered 
a  few  modifications  in  detail :  the  delay  was  due  to  lack  of 
funds.  In  1 538  the  equestrian  statue  of  Marcus  Aurelius 
was  removed  from  the  Piazza  of  the  Lateran  to  the  site 
where  it  now  stands.  It  owed  its  preservation  to  the  belief 
that  it  represented  the  first  Christian  Emperor.  We  learn 
from  a  mediaeval  pilgrim's  guide-book  that  a  small  figure 
of  a  barbarian  prince,  with  his  hands  bound  behind  his 
back,  once  lay  beneath  the  raised  forefoot  of  the  horse. 
This  is  the  only  example  of  an  Imperial  Equestrian  statue 
which  has  been  preserved  to  us,  and  though  not  of  the  best 
period  of  art  nor  free  from  faults  of  execution,  it  admirably 
fulfils  its  monumental  purpose.  About  1550  the  double 
staircase  in  front  of  the  Palazzo  del  Senatore  was  completed, 
and  at   its  foot   were   placed    two    recumbent    figures    of 


MI.]  THE   CAPITOL  103 

river=gods  which  had  stood  throughout  the  Middle  Ages 
upon  the  Quirinal,  near  the  colossal  Dioscuri  (p.  196).  Prob- 
ably they  represented  the  Nile — symbolised  by  the  Sphinx — 
and  the  Tigris  :  but  the  tiger  which  was  the  badge  of  this 
latter  river  was  changed  into  a  wolf  by  the  restorer  so  as  to 
typify  the  Tiber.  Between  them  was  afterwards  placed 
a  colossal  statue  of  Athena,  now  in  the  Museo  Capitolino 
(p.  105),  for  which  was  substituted  at  a  later  date  the  seated 
Athena  of  red  porphyry,  which  was  believed  to  represent 
the  goddess  Roma,  and  therefore  provided  with  a  pile  of 
arms  and  armour  and  dubbed  "  Roma  Trionfante."  The 
balustrade  which  faces  the  Piazza  Araceli  was  completed 
under  Pius  IV  (1559-66),  and  from  time  to  time  adorned 
with  ancient  monuments.  The  two  statues  of  the  Dioscuri 
(Castor  and  Pollux)  at  the  head  of  the  cordo7iata  were 
discovered,  as  it  would  seem,  in  the  Ghetto,  and  had  doubt- 
less stood  on  either  side  of  some  monumental  gateway. 
Michelangelo  intended  them  to  face  each  other,  but  when, 
after  twenty  years,  they  were  restored  by  Valsoldo,  they 
were  placed  in  their  present  attitude.  The  first  milestone 
of  a  Roman  road,  with  an  inscription  recording  its  restora- 
tion by  Vespasian  and  Nerva,  and  believed  to  be  that  of 
the  Appian  Way,  was  placed  on  the  balustrade  about  1580, 
and  (in  the  nineteenth  century)  balanced  by  the  seventh 
milestone  of  the  same  road,  with  a  similar  inscription. 
In  1590  the  so-called  ♦•  Trophies  of  Marius'*  were  brought 
from  the  monumental  fountain  whose  remains  are  still  to  be 
seen  in  the  Piazza  Vittorio  Emanuele.  The  name  by  which 
they  are  popularly  known  dates  from  the  Middle  Ages  ;  it 
is  more  difficult  to  determine  their  true  origin.  On  the  one 
hand,  the  coins  of  Severus  Alexander  represent  a  fountain 
on  the  Esquiline  called  the  "  Nymphseum  of  Alexander," 
which  resembles  the  remains  above  mentioned ;  on  the 
other,  a  quarry-mark  on  one  of  the  blocks  of  marble  of 
which  the  trophies  are  made  is  dated  in  Domitian's  reign, 
and  it  is  plausibly  conjectured  that  an  inscription  seen  by 
Petrarch  and  Poggio  which  records  Domitian's  victories  on 
the  Rhine  aud  Danube  belonged  to  the  monument.     The 


I04  THE  CAPITOL  [vii. 

female  figure  who,  with  her  two  children,  represents  the 
conquered  enemy  on  the  trophy  to  the  S.  of  the  approach, 
is  of  German  type,  and  Domitian's  double  triumph  over  the 
Chatti  (in  the  Taunus)  and  Dacians  (in  Transylvania) 
celebrated  in  A.D.  89  may  have  been  commemorated  by 
the  erection  of  this  monument.  Finally,  under  Innocent  X 
(1644-55)  two  statues  originally  found  in  the  ruins  of  the 
Baths  of  Constantine  on  the  Quirinal,  and  representing 
that  Emperor  and  his  son  Constantine  II,  were  placed  on 
the  balustrade.  They  are  interesting  as  specimens  of 
Imperial  statues  executed  in  the  decline  of  ancient  art,  stiff 
in  pose,  but  not  without  monumental  effect. 

The  ■  Capitoline  collection  of  antiquities  was  originally 
housed  in  the  Palazzo  dei  Conservatori,  and  a  considerable 
addition  was  made  to  it  by  Pius  V,  a  bigoted  reactionary, 
who  on  his  election  to  the  Papacy  in  1566  presented  the 
people  of  Rome  with  a  large  number  of  statues  from  the 
Belvedere  and  Vatican  Gardens.  The  "New  Palace,"  as 
the  building  to  the  N.  of  the  Piazza  was  called,  made  but 
slow  progress  until  the  reign  of  Innocent  X,  under  whom  it 
was  completed  and  adorned  with  a  number  of  statues  and 
busts  from  the  older  building.  To  the  nucleus  thus  formed 
additions  were  made  by  later  Popes,  above  all  by  Clement 
XI.I,  who  in  1733  purchased  the  collection  of  Cardinal 
Alessandro  Albani,  then  in  financial  straits,  and  transferred 
it  to  the  Museo  Capitolino,  as  it  was  now  called.  Except 
for  some  statues  presented  by  Benedict  XIV  (1740-58),  the 
the  later  acquisitions  of  the  museum  have  not  been  con- 
siderable. Several  of  the  most  important  works  were 
removed  to  Paris  by  Napoleon  in  accordance  with  the 
Treaty  of  Tolentino  (1797),  but  nearly  all  were  restored  in 
1 8 16  and  placed  in  a  special  room. 

We  pass  through  a  corridor  into  a  courtyard,  and  see 
in  front  of  us  a  colossal  recumbent  river=god  known 
throughout  the  Middle  Ages  as  Marforio  from  the  place 
where  it  stood  ("Martis  forum")  near  the  Mamertine  Prison, 
and  famous  from  the  fact  that  the  answers  to  the  satires  of 
the  "  Pasquino"  (p.  171)  were  attached  to  it.     It  was  brought 


VII.]  THE   CAPITOL  105 

to  the  Capitoline  Piazza  in  the  sixteenth  century,  and  turned 
to  its  present  use  by  Clement  XII  (whose  bust  may  be  seen 
above  it)  in  1734,  when  the  two  Pans  from  the  Albani 
collection  were  placed  on  either  side  of  it.  These  were 
discovered  in  the  Piazza  dei  Satiri  (to  which  they  gave  its 
name)  and  belonged  to  the  decoration  of  Pompey's  theatre 
(p.  168).  On  the  R.  of  the  court  is  a  hall  containing  Egyptian 
sculptures,  partly  of  the  imitative  kind  produced  in  Rom 
under  the  Empire  ;  some  of  these  were  discovered  in  the 
sanctuary  of  I  sis  in  the  Campus  Martins  (p.  175).     In  the 


MarFono 

1 
1 

L 

St-airca5e 

COURT 
ATRIO 

1 

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( 

1      1 

2 

1         1 

3 

ENTRANCE 

i 

G 

I 

1 
1 

MUStO   CAPITOLINO  -   Ground  Floor 


corridor,  to  the  L.,  (4)  is  a  colossal  statue  of  Athena  (cf. 
above,  p.  103),  which,  though  poor  in  execution,  represents 
an  Original  of  the  period  of  Phidias  ;  it  was  originally  armed 
with  shield  and  spear.  Farther  on  are  two  draped  female 
figures  (12  and  22),  the  effect  of  which  is  impaired  by  the 
heads  which  have  been  placed  on  them.  They  belong  to 
the  art  of  the  period  following  the  Persian  wars,  and  illustrate 
the  early  progress  of  the  Greeks  towards  the  representation 
of  the  natural  fall  of  drapery.  A  head  in  Berlin  has  been 
identified  as  that  which  belongs  to  the  type.  At  the  end  of 
the  corridor  is  (21)  a  fragment  of  a  statue  in  pavonazzetto 


io6  THE   CAPITOL  [vii.. 

representing  a  barbarian,  brought  from  the  Arch  of  Con- 
stantine  in  1733  (see  p.  253).  Here  we  turn  to  the  L.  and 
enter  a  room  containing  a  few  Christian  monuments 
(fragments  of  sarcophagi,  statue  of  the  Good  Shepherd,  etc.) 
and  (on  the  L.  wall)  a  marble  disc  carved  in  low  relief  with 
scenes  from  the  story  of  Achilles.  In  an  inner  room  are  a 
number  of  altars  and  gravestones,  a  few  of  which  have 
Palmyrene  inscriptions.  The  most  interesting  is  the  altar 
in  the  centre  of  the  room,  set  up  by  members  of  the 
police-force  attached  to  the  horrea  Qalbiana  or  ware- 
houses by  the  Tiber,  with  a  beautiful  bust  (in  relief)  of  the 
youthful  Sun-god  on  the  principal  face.  It  has  a  Palmyrene 
inscription  on  the  side  upon  which  is  figured  a  solar  deity 
in  a  chariot,  and  on  the  back  is  carved  a  cypress  tree  from 
which  the  divinity  Azizus  springs  in  the  form  of  a  child. 
The  altar  is  little  later  than  the  reign  of  Nero,  and  bears 
witness  to  the  early  introduction  of  Palmyrene  cults  into 
Rome. 

Returning  to  the  corridor  and  passing  the  entrance  we 
see  on  the  L.  (35)  a  figure  of  Polyphemus  with  one  of  the 
companions  of  Odysseus  under  his  feet  and  a  statue  of 
Hadrian,  to  the  R.  (19)  a  colossal  statue  of  Mars.  The 
type  is  that  of  "  Mars  the  Avenger,"  to  whom  Augustus 
dedicated  the  temple  in  his  Forum  (p.  152),  and  it  seems  to 
have  been  derived  from  that  of  a  colossal  statue  of  Ares 
set  up  in  the  Acropolis  of  Halicarnassus  in  the  fourth  century 
B.C.  Here  we  turn  through  a  door  on  the  R.  into  a  room 
containing  a  number  of  busts  and  heads  (note  No.  19,  an 
athlete  with  straps  passing  round  his  head,  sometimes 
wrongly  described  as  Juba  II  of  Mauretania,  and  No.  25,  a 
head  of  Heracles  reproducing  a  type  created  by  Scopas) ; 
in  the  centre  is  a  square  base  adorned  with  reliefs  represent- 
ing the  labours  of  Heracles  in  an  "archaistic"  style.  In 
the  next  room,  against  the  R.  wall,  is  a  fine  sarcophagus 
representing  a  battle  of  Qauls  and  Greeks.  To  the 
Roman,  no  doubt,  the  scene  recalled  the  wars  of  his  own 
country  with  the  Gauls :  but  the  style  and  types  used  clearly 
point   to   the    school  of   Pergamon  which   celebrated   the 


VII.]  THE  CAPITOL  107 

victories  of  Attalus  I  over  the  Gallic  invaders  of  Asia  Minor  : 
on  this  see  pp.  128  and  214.  How  popular  these  types  were 
with  Roman  artists  is  shown  by  the  fact  that  on  the  Column 
of  Trajan  the  suicide  of  Decebalus  (p.  163)  is  represented 
precisely  as  that  of  a  Gallic  chief  on  this  sarcophagus.  In 
the  same  room  is  the  grave-monument  of  T.  Statilius  Aper, 
an  architect  and  draughtsman,  whose  instruments  are 
shown  on  the  sides  of  the  cippus.  The  boar  at  the  feet  of 
the  figure  alludes  to  his  name  (rtjzJ^r=boar).  Passing  into 
the  third  room  we  see  a  large  sarcophagus,  upon  the  lid  of 
which  are  the  figures  of  a  man  and  woman  recfining  upon 
a  cushion.  These  clearly  belong  to  the  early  third  century 
A.D.,  and  were  long  believed  to  represent  the  Emperor 
Severus  Alexander  and  his  mother,  Julia  Mammaea.  The 
sarcophagus  was  found  in  the  Monte  del  Grano,  an  artificial 
tumulus  near  the  Via  Latina,  and  an  unfounded  tradition 
asserts  that  it  contained  the  famous  Portland  Vase,  now  in 
the  British  Museum,  the  scenes  of  which  were  interpreted 
as  symbolical  of  the  birth  of  Severus  Alexander.  The  body 
of  the  sarcophagus  is  decorated  with  scenes  from  the  life  of 
Achilles.  On  the  front  we  have  Achilles  at  the  Court  of 
Lycomedes,  king  of  Scyrus,  in  the  act  of  throwing  ofT  his 
woman's  disguise  on  the  arrival  of  Odysseus  and  Diomedes. 
The  balance  and  symmetry  of  the  coniposition,  at  either  end 
of  which  is  a  seated  king  (Agamemnon  and  Lycomedes),  are 
traditional,  while  the  absence  of  neutral  background  and 
the  violent  contrast  of  light  and  shadow  mark  the  later 
period  of  Roman  art.  On  the  sides  we  see  the  farewell  of 
Achilles  to  Lycomedes  and  the  arming  of  Achilles. 

Returning  to  the  corridor  we  mount  the  Staircase.  On  the 
first  landing,  to  the  L.  is  a  female  portrait-statue  of  the 
"Pudicitia"  type,  on  which  see  p.  324,  to  the  R.  a  female 
divinity  with  the  modern  inscription  IVNO  lanumvina 
(i.e.  Juno  of  Lanuvium).  It  is,  however,  very  doubtful 
whether  the  statue  was  found  at  Lanuvium  (Civitk  Lavigna), 
and  the  type  is  rather  that  of  an  earth-goddess.  The  skin 
with  which  she  is  draped  is  that  of  a  pig.  At  the  head  of 
the  staircase  we  enter  a  Gallery  and  turn  to  the  R.     To  our 


io8  THE   CAPITOL  [vii. 

L.  (38)  is  a  group  of  Heracles  slaying  the  hydra,  wrongly 
restored.  The  pose  of  Heracles  shows  that  he  was  repre- 
sented with  his  knee  upon  the  neck  of  the  Keryn^ean  stag. 
The  hydra  is  the  work  of  the  sculptor  Algardi  (1602-54). 
Beside  this  group  is  placed  another  fragment,  consisting  of 
a  leg  and  the  coils  of  the  hydra.  The  story  runs  that  it  was 
found  after  Algardi's  restoration  was  complete  :  but  it  is 
probably  not  antique,  and  belonged  to  a  restoration  after- 
wards discarded.  To  the  R.  is  (5)  a  statue  of  Eros  (Cupid) 
bending  his  bow,  copied  from  a  bronze  original,  probably 
by  Lysippus,  charming  in  conception  and  treatment,  though 
lacking  in  spiritual  depth.  Near  this  a  door  (r.)  leads  to  the 
Room  of  the  Doves,  which  takes  its  name  from  the  mosaic 
on  the  wall  opposite  the  windows  found  in  Hadrian's 
Villa,  and  representing  doves  perched  on  the  edge  of  a  bowl. 
The  subject  agrees  with  that  of  a  mosaic  by  Sosus  of  Perga- 
mon,  an  artist  of  the  Hellenistic  period,  described  by  the 
elder  Pliny,  and  was  no  doubt  derived  therefrom.  It 
formed  the  centrepiece  of  a  mosaic  floor,  and  is  remarkable 
for  the  minuteness  of  execution,  which  aims  at  an  effect  more 
proper  to  painting  than  to  mosaic.  Beneath  it  stands  (13)  a 
sarcophagus,  upon  which  is  represented  Prometheus  form- 
ing the  first  man  of  clay,  together  with  other  scenes 
(Hermes  and  a  departed  soul,  Hephaestus  and  the  Cyclopes, 
Eros  and  Psyche,  etc.  etc.)  The  crowding  of  these  loosely 
connected  subjects  resembles  that  which  we  find  on  Christian 
sarcophagi,  and  one  group  of  figures  (a  man  and  woman 
beneath  a  tree)  has  been  thought  to  represent  Adam  and 
Eve  in  Paradise.  Farther  on,  on  the  same  wall,  is  a  mosaic 
with  theatrical  masks,  and  beneath  it  a  sarcophagus,  upon 
which  is  figured  the  sleeping  Endymion  approached  by 
Selene.  In  the  second  window-opening  are  fragments  of 
Tabulse  Iliacse,  or  slabs  of  marble  upon  which  scenes  from 
the  Trojan  war  are  engraved,  with  quotations  or  explanatory 
inscriptions.  The  largest  is  No.  83,  in  the  centre  of  which 
is  the  destruction  of  Troy  "according  to  Stesichorus,"  the 
Sicilian  lyric  poet.  No.  83A  represents  the  shield  of 
Achilles  as  described  in  the  i8th  Iliad  ;  the  Homeric  text 


VII.]  THE  CAPITOL  109 

is  inscribed  in  minute  characters  on  the  edge  of  the  shield, 
and  on  the  back  are  letters  which,  read  in  several  ways, 
give  the  sense,  "  The  Shield  of  Achilles  according  to  Homer, 
by  Theodorus."  Upon  the  tiers  of  shelves  surrounding  the 
room  are  a  large  number  of  heads  and  busts  belonging  to 
different  periods.  Amongst  those  on  the  end  wall  are  several 
with  modern  stands  of  black  marble  which  belong  to  the 
reigns  of  Augustus  and  his  successors,  and  are  characteristic 
of  Early  Imperial  Art.  In  the  centre  (61)  is  a  very  remark- 
able bust  of  the  third  century  A.D.,  which  portrays  a  villainous- 


Cabinet  of 

Courf 

Room 

of 

rhe 
Doves 

sraircase 

Venus  Ib        cJ 

1 

—  — - 

— "f 

^      ( 

Gall    e    r  y 

Room 
oF    the 
Emperors 

Room 

oF   rhe 

Philosophers 

Salonc 

Room 

oF 

rhe 

Fawn 

Room 
oF    the 
dying 
Gaul 

MUSEO  CAPITOLINO 

Upper  Floor 


looking  personage  with  unsparing  realism.  Beneath  is  the 
cippus  of  a  certain  Claudia  Syntyche,  with  a  relief  repre- 
senting a  more  famous  Claudia — the  Vestal  who  drew  the 
boat  containing  the  image  of  the  Great  Mother  (Cybele)  up 
the  Tiber  in  204  B.C.  On  the  R.  wall  notice  (28)  a  small 
double  herm  with  the  heads  of  two  marine  divinities, 
probably  those  of  the  lakes  of  Nemi  and  Albano,  since  a 
similar  herm  was  found  in  the  precinct  of  Diana  Nemorensis 
beside  the  former  lake. 

Returning  to  the  Gallery  we  see  on  the  R.  (8)  the  statue  ot 
a  drunken  old  woman  (head  restored)  clasping  an  amphora 


no  THE   CAPITOL  [vii. 

wreathed  with  ivy.  Pliny  mentions  such  a  statue  as  existing 
at  Smyrna,  and  attributes  it  to  Myron,  who  (if  the  text  be 
correct)  must  have  been  a  Hellenistic  artist,  not  the  famous 
Attic  sculptor.  Near  it  (lo)  is  an  octagonal  urn  which  once 
contained  the  ashes  of  a  certain  Lucillus  Felix,  daintily 
decorated  with  winged  loves,  masks  and  vine  leaves.  No. 
12  is  a  graceful  figure  of  a  young  Satyr  playing  the  flute, 
conceived  in  the  idyllic  spirit  of  Alexandrian  pastoral  poetry. 
On  the  L.  notice  (56)  a  group  of  a  seated  Roman  matron 
and  her  little  boy,  wearing  the  bulla  or  amulet  hanging 
round  his  neck,  popularly  called  "  Agrippina  and  Nero "  ; 
(54)  an  Aphrodite  upon  which  has  been  set  a  head  of 
Flavian  date,  as  is  shown  by  the  high  toupet  (see  below)  ; 
(52)  a  female  figure  restored  as  a  Muse,  leaning  upon  a 
pillar — the  type  was  created  in  the  fifth  century  to  represent 
Aphrodite,  and  often  repeated  with  variations  ;  also  (50),  a 
torso  belonging  to  a  replica  of  Myron's  discobolus  (see  p. 
219),  restored  by  the  French  sculptor,  Etienne  Monnot,  as 
a  fallen  warrior.  On  either  side  of  the  doorway  leading 
into  the  large  saloon  is  a  female  head.  That  on  the  L.  (51) 
is  an  Aphrodite  of  the  period  just  before  Praxiteles,  with 
something  of  the  severity  of  fifth  century  art :  the  one  on 
the  R.  (47),  with  hollow  eye-sockets,  in  which  eyeballs  of 
glass  and  enamel  were  once  inserted,  is  in  all  probability  an 
original  work  by  the  artist  Damophon  of  Messene,  whose 
style  and  date  were  not  certainly  known  until  the  discovery 
of  remains  at  Lycosura  in  Arcadia  belonging  to  a  sanctuary 
described  by  Pausanias.  He  lived  in  the  early  part  of  the 
second  century  B.C.  Close  to  it  is  (48)  a  young  Niobid, 
restored  in  accordance  with  a  better-preserved  replica  in 
Florence  ;  it  belonged  to  the  group  discussed  on  p.  324. 
Under  No.  46  is  a  sarcophagus  representing  the  birth  and 
upbringing  of  the  child  Dionysus,  who  is  surrounded  by 
satyrs  and  nymphs.  Opposite  this  (20)  is  a  Psyche,  with 
large  butterfly  wings,  looking  up  pathetically  toward  the 
Eros,  who  we  must  imagine  in  the  act  of  torturing  her. 
The  conception  is  strikingly  similar  to  that  of  the  Niobid 
just  described.     To  the  L.,  No.  42,  is  a  grave-statue  repre- 


VII.]  THE  CAPITOL  iii 

senting  a  seated  Roman  matron,  which  cannot  be  later  than 
the  Augustan  age.  To  the  R.  we  pass  through  a  doorway 
into  the  Cabinet  of  the  Venus,  named  after  the  principal 
statue  therein,  which  faces  the  door.  The  exquisite  and 
naturahstic  rendering  of  the  nude,  evidently  due  to  study  of 
a  living  model,  stamps  this  as  an  original  work  ;  the  lack  of 
spiritual  expression  in  the  face,  which  reproduces  a  type 
traceable  to  the  fourth  century  B.C.  in  a  somewhat  perfunctory 
fashion,  forbid  us  to  date  the  statue  earlier  than  the  later 
Hellenistic  period.  It  may  be  the  work  of  a  Greek  artist 
of  the  last  century  B.C.  The  goddess  has  laid  aside  her  last 
garment  and  is  preparing  to  enter  the  bath,  when  an  impulse 
of  modesty  causes  her  to  cover  herself  as  far  as  she  can  with 
her  two  hands.  The  subtlety  and  refinement  of  the  motive 
show  that  the  age  of  Praxiteles  has  been  left  far  behind.  To 
the  L.  is  a  group  of  Leda  and  the  Swan,  Leda  is  raising 
her  cloak  to  protect  the  Swan,  who  has  taken  refuge  with  her 
from  the  pursuing  eagle.  There  is  nothing  to  indicate  that 
it  represents  Zeus,  and  the  chief  interest  of  the  artist  seems 
to  be  concentrated  on  the  representation  of  drapery.  A  close 
analogy  has  been  traced  in  the  sculptures  from  the  temple  of 
Asclepios  at  Epidaurus,  which  were  the  work  of  an  Athenian 
sculptor,  Timotheus,  of  the  early  fourth  century  B.C.,  and  the 
original  of  this  group  has  therefore  been  attributed  to  him. 
To  the  R.  is  a  group  commonly  known  as  Eros  and  Psyche. 
Neither  are,  however,  winged  (the  presence  of  wings  would, 
in  fact,  destroy  the  simplicity  of  the  group),  and  all  that  we 
see  is  a  boy  and  girl  embracing  each  other  in  childish 
innocence,  as  is  delicately  shown  by  their  attitude,  but 
standing  on  the  threshold  of  a  stronger  passion.  Such  a 
problem  could  not  have  been  attacked  by  Greek  artists 
before  the  Hellenistic  period ;  on  the  other  hand,  its  exis- 
tence in  the  second  century  B.C.  is  presupposed  by  terra- 
cottas and  marbles  of  that  time,  which  reproduce  it  on  a 
small  scale.  In  some  of  these  wings  are  added,  in  order  to 
characterise  the  figures  as  Eros  and  Psyche  ;  but  this  does 
not  prove  that  the  artist  of  the  original  intended  them  as 
such.     Other  modifications,  in  fact,  are  found  ;  the  action  of 


112  THE   CAPITOL  [vii. 

the  boy,  who  is  opening  the  girl's  mouth  with  his  fingers  in 
order  to  count  her  teeth,  is  altered  in  some  examples. 

We  return  to  the  gallery  and  note  at  the  end  a  large  vase 
in  the  shape  of  a  crater  or  mixing-bowl,  finely  decorated  with 
plant-forms.  It  stands  upon  a  circular  well-head  adorned 
with  a  procession  of  twelve  gods  in  relief.  The  style  of 
these  figures  is  "  archaistic  "  and  affected  ;  notice  such  exag- 
gerated traits  as  the  "  swallow-tail "  folds  of  the  drapery  and 
the  tip-toe  gait  of  the  divinities.  This  fashion  of  imitating 
archaic  works  was  prevalent  amongst  certain  of  the  "  Neo- 
Attic  "  sculptors  of  the  first  century  B.C.  On  the  R.,  No.  29, 
found  at  Velletri,  is  a  replica  (without  the  aegis)  of  the 
more  famous  "Giustiniani  Athena"  which  is  described  on 
p.  329.  At  this  end  of  the  gallery  are  some  noticeable 
Imperial  portraits.  No.  24  is  Tiberius  ;  No.  27,  a  fine  female 
head  of  about  a.d.  200  may  be  Julia  Domna,  the  wife  of 
Septimius  Severus  ;  No.  28,  a  youthful  Marcus  Aurelius  ; 
No.  30,  Trajan;  No.  31,  Caracalla ;  while  No.  33  is 
generally  held  to  be  one  of  the  very  few  authentic  portraits 
of  Caligula,  though  it  has  also  been  suggested  that  it  may 
represent  Gaius  Caesar,  the  grandson  of  Augustus,  who  died 
young,  on  the  ground  of  its  resemblance  in  profile  to  the 
portraits  of  his  father,  Agrippa. 

At  this  point  we  pass  through  a  door  on  the  L.  and  enter 
the  Room  of  the  Emperors,  which  contains  a  remarkable 
collection  of  Imperial  busts  formed  by  Cardinal  Albani,  to 
which  but  few  additions  have  since  been  made.  They 
deserve  study  not  only  for  their  intrinsic  interest,  but  also  as 
illustrating  the  development  of  a  specifically  Roman  art  of 
portraiture.  The  series  begins  on  the  upper  shelf  in  the 
corner  to  L.  of  the  window  looking  on  the  Piazza  and  con- 
tinues from  L.  to  R.  I  is  not,  as  it  is  described,  a  bust  of 
Julius  Cassar,  but  an  unknown  portrait  of  late  Republican 
date,  which  illustrates  the  hard,  realistic  style  in  which  the 
earliest  Roman  portrait-sculptors  worked.  2A,  Augustus 
wearing  the  oak-wreath  or  corona  civica^  and  those  which 
follow,  exemplify  the  classicistic  style,  dominated  by  Greek 
influences,  which  prevailed  on  the  foundation  of  the  Empire. 


MI.]  THE   CAPITOL  113 

4  is  Tiberius,  5  most  probably  his  nephew  and  adopted 
son  Germanicus,  7  may  be  his  son  Drusus.  6  is  wrongly 
placed  here,  and  really  belongs  to  the  Flavian  period.  The 
ladies  of  the  court  are  represented  by  8  and  10,  the  latter 
Agrippina  the  elder,  wife  of  Germanicus.  11  is  a  modern 
bust  of  Caligula  in  green  basalt,  no  doubt  executed  in  imita- 
tion of  coin-types  to  fill  a  gap  in  the  series.  Nos.  12 — 17 
belong  to  the  Julio-Claudian  period.  No.  16  has  been 
restored  as  Nero,  but  only  the  upper  part  of  the  face  is 
ancient.  No.  18  resembles  the  coin-portraits  of  Galba, 
but  seems  to  be  a  Republican  bust  worked  over  in  modern 
times.  19  may  be  Otho  ;  the  wavy  hair  is  characteristic  of  this 
emperor.  20  shares  with  other  portraits  of  Vitellius  the  sus- 
picion of  being  a  modern  creation,  the  prototype  of  which 
dates  from  the  Renaissance  ;  the  question  is  hard  to  decide. 
21  (Vespasian)  and  22  (Titus)  are  only  moderate  examples 
of  the  finest  period  of  Roman  portraiture  ;  23  and  25  wear 
the  unmistakable  hairdress  of  the  same  age,  and  the  latter 
may  be  Domitia,  the  wife  of  Domitian.  26  (Nerva)  is 
thought  to  be  the  work  of  Algardi  ;  it  is  clearly  modern. 
27  is  a  good  portrait  of  Trajan  ;  28  is  his  Empress,  Plotina, 
probably  in  the  days  of  her  widowhood.  29  and  30  re 
call  by  the  style  in  which  the  hair  is  dressed  the  portraits 
of  Marciana,  the  sister  of  Trajan,  and  Matidia,  his  niece, 
but  the  identifications  are  doubtful.  31  and  32  represent 
Hadrian,  33  most  probably  his  wife  Sabina,  depicted  as 
Ceres.  (This  is  indicated  by  the  diadem  adorned  with 
ears  of  wheat  and  poppy-heads  ;  the  bust  illustrates  the 
Renaissance  of  Greek  classicism  under  Hadrian.)  Note 
that  from  the  time  of  Hadrian  onwards  the  practice  of 
representing  the  iris  or  pupil  of  the  eye  by  incisions  in  the 
marble  comes  into  vogue.  A  new  style  is  ushered  in  by  the 
portraits  of  the  Antonine  period  ;  the  Emperors  are  repre- 
sented by  Nos.  35  (Antoninus  Pius),  37  (Marcus  Aurelius  as 
a  youth),  38  (the  same  in  middle  life),  41  (Lucius  Verus),  34 
and  43  (Commodus  ;  the  latter  is  youthful,  the  former  has 
wrongly  been  described  as  yElius  Caesar,  the  adopted  son  of 
Hadrian  and  father  of  L.  Verus).     36  is  Faustina  the  elder, 


114  THE   CAPITOL.  [vii. 

wife  of  Antoninus  Pius  ;  39  may  possibly  be  Crispina,  wife 
of  Commodus.  40  seems  to  be  a  child  of  the  Antonine 
house.  The  heads  which  follow  are  works  of  uncertain 
identification  and  belong  to  the  late  Antonine  age  or  to  that 
of  the  Severi ;  47  is  Julia  Mammasa,  mother  of  Severus 
Alexander.  49  is  interesting  as  possessing  an  artist's  signa- 
ture—" Zenas  the  second,"  i.e.  Zenas  the  son  of  Zenas. 
The  father  was  most  probably  the  artist  whose  signature 
may  be  read  on  a  bust  in  the  next  room  (below,  p.  119); 
and  both  belonged  to  a  well-known  school  of  sculptors 
from  Aphrodisias  in  Asia  Minor,  whose  works  can  be 
dated  to  the  reign  of  Hadrian.  Whether  they  worked 
at  Aphrodisias  or,  as  seems  more  probable,  in  Rome, 
there  can  be  no  doubt  that  they  exercised  considerable  in- 
fluence over  the  art  of  their  time.  No.  49  in  particular  is 
an  excellent  portrait,  and  must  represent  a  personage  of 
some  importance  at  Hadrian's  Court,  seeing  that  another 
example  has  been  fojind  in  a  villa  in  France,  probably  the 
official  residence  of  a  governor  or  procurator,  together  with 
other  Imperial  portraits.  Nos.  50  and  51  represent  Clodius 
Albinus  and  Septimius  Severus  :  the  former  was  governor 
of  Gaul,  and  was  unwillingly  recognised  by  Severus  as 
joint-Emperor  until  the  latter,  having  crushed  his  Eastern 
rival,  Pescennius  Niger  (supposed  without  sufficient  reason 
to  be  represented  by  No.  48),  was  free  to  attack  him. 
52  may  be  Severus'  wife,  Julia  Domna ;  53  is  his  son  and 
successor  Caracalla,  and  though  not  a  first-rate  portrait, 
reproduces  the  characteristic  type  of  the  savage  and  half- 
insane  tyrant.  54  may  be  the  same  Emperor  in  earlier 
life  ;  57  is  his  younger  brother  Geta,  whom  he  murdered 
in  his  mother's  presence,  not,  as  is  commonly  supposed,  his 
cousin  Elagabalus.  The  other  heads,  especially  the  female 
portraits,  assigned  to  this  period  are  not  to  be  identified 
with  any  probability.  As  the  third  century  advances  the 
un-Roman  cast  of  features — which  begins  with  the  dynasty 
of  the  Severi,  who  were  of  African  origin  and  married 
Syrian  wives — becomes  more  marked,  and  a  new  style  of 
portraiture,  which  employs  simple  yet  effective  means,  such 


VII.]  THE   CAPITOL  115 

as  the  representation  of  short  hair  by  incised  chisel-strokes, 
comes  into  fashion.  62  is  a  bust  of  Maximinus  the 
Thracian,  the  first  barbarian  Emperor ;  63  possibly  his 
son  Maximus.  Few  of  the  third-century  heads  can  be 
securely  identified,  ^ince  in  the  progressive  decline  of  art 
the  coin-portraits  lose  their  iconographic  value.  66  seems 
to  be  Pupienus.  one  of  emperors  set  up  by  the  Senate  in 
A.D  238,  the  year  of  Six  Emperors.  70  resembles  the  coin- 
portraits  of  Decius,  the  persecutor  of  the  Christians  ;  74 
and  75  seem  to  represent  father  and  son,  probably  private 
persons  of  the  middle  of  the  third  century.  76  is  a  moder- 
ately good  portrait  of  Gallienus,  under  whom  the  Empire 
almost  suffered  premature  disruption  :  he  was  a  conceited 
fop  and  dilettante^  and  there  was  a  strange  renaissance  of 
portraiture  under  his  rule  which  was  of  brief  duration. 
79  bears  the  inscription  MACARI  "  [a  portrait]  of  Macarius," 
which  has  wrongly  been  interpreted  as  M.  A(urelius) 
Cari(nus).  The  portrait  is  much  earlier  than  Carinus,  the 
predecessor  of  Diocletian,  whose  name  has  been  given, 
quite  wrongly,  to  No.  80,  a  fine  bust  which  really  belongs 
to  the  beginning  of  the  second  century  A.D.,  and  if  it  repre- 
sents an  Imperial  personage  at  all,  is  probably  the  father 
of  Trajan.  81,  a  colossal  head,  has  been  called  Con- 
stantius  Chlorus,  but  is  far  older  than  his  time.  The  treat- 
ment of  the  hair,  etc.,  shows  that  the  colossal  statue  to 
which  it  belonged  was  intended  to  be  seen  from  a  distance, 
and  the  workmanship  is  so  effective  that  we  may  perhaps 
ascribe  it  to  the  Flavian  period.  82  has  the  unintelligible 
inscription  (seemingly  of  mediaeval  date)  ianus  inpeator, 
which  was  taken  to  mean  "  lulianus  Imperator"  ;  the  head 
therefore  has  been  identified  as  "  Julian  the  Apostate." 
It  is  in  reality  a  portrait  of  a  Greek  philosopher,  of  which 
there  are  other  replicas  in  the  next  room  (see  below,  p.  119). 
83  is  a  typical  example  of  the  art  of  the  Later  Empire,  with 
its  stiff  pose  and  fixed,  staring  gaze.  Probably  it  is  of 
the  later  fourth  century  A.D.,  but  some  hold  that  it  belongs 
to  the  time  of  Justinian.  In  the  centre  of  the  room  is  (84)  a 
seated   female    statue    traditionally    called    Agrippina,    but 


ii6  THE  CAPITOL  [vii. 

really  of  the  Antonine  period.  The  workmanship  is  common- 
place, but  the  pose  and  motive  are  derived  from  Greek 
art  of  the  classical  period.  Amongst  the  reliefs  let  in  to 
the  upper  part  of  the  walls  the  most  noticeable  are  two  on 
the  L.  wall,  representing  (89)  Perseus  and  Andromeda, 
(92)  Endymion.  Under  the  Roman  Empire,  if  not  before, 
the  practice  of  decorating  the  walls  of  houses,  etc.,  with 
large  bas-reliefs  in  place  of  paintings  sprang  up.  We  have 
here  two  examples  of  this  class.  No.  92  is  superior  in 
workmanship,  and  the  figure  of  the  seated  Endymion  with 
his  dog  has  no  parallel  in  other  ancient  representations  of 
the  myth.  It  can  scarcely  be  later  than  a.d.  100.  No.  89 
belongs  rather  to  the  class  of  the  reliefs  in  Palazzo  Spada, 
described  on  p.  169  ff.  It  is  not,  as  some  have  thought,  an 
Augustan  composition  derived  from  a  painting  of  the  Alex- 
andrian age,  but  arises  from  an  eclectic  combination  of 
statuary  motives,  and  is  to  be  dated  to  the  time  of  Hadrian 
or  a  little  later. 

We  pass  through  the  door  on  the  L.  into  the  Room  of 
the  Philosophers,  i.e.  of  the  Greek  portraits.  Most  of 
these  are  again  derived  from  the  Albani  collection,  and 
their  identification  is  even  more  uncertain  than  that  of  the 
emperors.  Not  a  few  Roman  portraits,  too,  are  included  in 
the  collection.  The  numbering  begins  on  the  upper  shelf 
to  the  L.  of  the  entrance,  i  is  not  a  portrait — though  it 
has  received  the  traditional  name  of  Virgil — but  an  Eleu- 
sinian  divinity  resembling  the  beautiful  head  from  Eleusis, 
believed  to  be  the  Eubouleus  of  Praxiteles.  2  and  3 
represent  a  Greek  philosopher,  fancifully  identified  as  Hera- 
clitus,  "the  weeping  philosopher,"  on  account  of  their 
pathetic  expression.  4  and  5  are  portraits  of  Socrates — 
in  the  latter  the  uglier  features  of  the  original  are  strongly 
emphasised — while  6  has  been  converted  into  a  Socrates 
by  the  modern  restorer.  Nos.  7-9  cannot  be  identified  ; 
No.  10  is  a  moderately  good  example  of  a  type,  long  be- 
lieved to  represent  Seneca,  but  now  recognised  as  the  portrait 
of  a  famous  Hellenistic  poet,  possibly  Callimachus.  In 
the  Museo  delle  Terme  (p.  217)  is  a  replica  wearing  the 


VII.]  THE  CAPITOL  117 

crown  of  ivy  proper  to  poets,  and  the  amazing  realism  with 
which  the  physical  defects  of  the  subject  are  portrayed 
points  to  a  contemporary  portrait  rather  than,  as  some  have 
suggested,  an  imaginary  representation  of  some  early  Greek 
poet  such  as  the  satirist  Hipponax.  Nos.  13  and  14  are 
good  copies  of  an  Attic  portrait  of  the  fourth  century  B.C., 
perhaps  representing  an  orator  ;  No.  1 5  bears  the  irtscrip- 
tion  AYCIAC,  a  mistake  for  Lysias.  The  genuineness  of 
this  inscription  has  been  disputed,  and  the  person  repre- 
sented is  not  the  same  as  the  subject  of  the  fine  inscribed 
bust  at  Naples,  as  to  which  see  on  No.  96.  16  is  a  colossal 
male  head  of  the  Augustan  head,  wrongly  called  Agrippa,  on 
the  ground  that  it  was  found  near  the  Pantheon.  21  is 
a  copy  made  in  the  second  century  A.D.  (as  is  shown  by  the 
form  of  the  bust)  of  a  fine  realistic  portrait  of  a  Greek 
philosopher  of  the  Hellenistic  age.  It  has  been  identified 
with  Diogenes,  but  the  resemblance  to  the  inscribed  statu- 
ette of  that  philosopher  in  the  Villa  Albani  is  not  close. 
22,  a  fragment  mounted  in  relief  on  vcrde  antico^  is  not 
Archimedes,  as  the  modern  inscription  has  it,  but  Sophocles 
(see  on  No.  33).  24  is  a  bust  executed  in  the  thir.d 
century  A.D.  (compare  the  Imperial  portraits  of  that  period 
in  the  previous  room)  which  bears  the  name  Asclepiades, 
possibly  a  famous  physician  of  the  first  century  B.C. 
25  is  a  contemporary  portrait  of  the  Platonic  philosopher 
Theon  of  Smyrna,  who  lived  under  Trajan  and  Hadrian. 
31  is  a  poor  portrait  of  Demosthenes  ;  32,  a  Roman  of 
the  second  century  A.D.  33  and  34  are  replicas  of  the 
portrait  of  Sophocles  best  known  from  the  statue  in  the 
Lateran  (p.  235),  which  belongs  to  the  latter  half  of  the  fourth 
century  B.C.  It  is  instructive  to  compare  this  type  with  No. 
22,  which  belongs  to  the  poet's  lifetime,  and  is  identified  by 
means  of  an  inscribed  bust  in  the  Vatican  (p.  300).  35  is  a 
badly  preserved  example  of  the  portrait  sometimes  called 
Alcibiades  discussed  on  p.  316.  37  and  38  resemble  each 
other  closely,  and  may  represent  the  same  person  :  a  similar 
head  appears  on  coins  of  Soli  in  Cilicia,  and  is  either  that 
of  Aratus,  the  astronomer,  or  of  Chrysippus,  the  Stoic  philo- 


ii8  THE  CAPITOL  [vii. 

sopher  and  logician,  both  of  whom  lived  in  the  third  century 
B.C.  Chrysippus  had  a  famous  statue  in  Athens,  and  it  is 
possible  that  our  head,  combined  with  a  body  in  the  Louvre, 
may  represent  it.  39  and  40  are  of  the  same  period,  but  do 
not  represent  the  same  person.  41-43  reproduce  the  con- 
ventional type  of  Euripides,  which,  like  that  of  Sophocles 
(No.  33),  is  not  contemporary,  but  largely  idealised  in  the 
taste  of  a  later  time.  44-46  are  examples  of  an  ideal 
portrait  of  Homer,  the  creation  of  which  was  the  work  of 
the  Rhodian  school  to  which  we  owe  the  Laocoon.  47 
seems  to  have  been  originally  a  Sophocles  of  the  type  repre- 
sented by  22,  worked  over  to  give  an  appearance  of  blind- 
ness and  possibly  intended  for  Homer.  48  was  found 
together  with  an  inscription  mentioning  Domitia,  the  wife 
of  Domitian  and  daughter  of  Cn.  Domitius  Corbulo,  a 
brilliant  general  who  was  in  command  on  the  Eastern 
frontier  under  Nero  and  was  finally  put  to  death  by  his 
order,  and  as  it  is  of  the  Julio-Claudian  period  it  is  almost 
certainly  a  portrait  of  Corbulo,  and  a  fine  example  of  Roman 
portraiture.  49  bears  the  inscription  P.  COR.  SCIPIO, 
indicating  that  it  was  regarded  as  a  portrait  of  Scipio 
Africanus  the  elder,  the  conqueror  of  Hannibal  :  but  this 
dates  from  the  eighteenth  century,  and  few  would  now  be 
found  to  maintain  the  correctness  of  the  identification.  The 
bust  is  one  of  a  numerous  class,  distinguished  by  the  shaven 
head  and  (in  most  instances)  by  the  presence  of  a  scar  or 
scars,  sometimes,  as  here,  in  the  shape  of  a  cross,  upon  the 
forehead.  If  we  assume  that  the  busts  represent  distin- 
guished Romans  of  the  Republic,  these  traits  must  be  taken 
as  evidences  of  the  realism  which  is  always  found  in  native 
Italian  art :  the  appearance  of  baldness  might  perhaps  be 
traced  to  the  direct  imitation  of  the  waxen  masks  of  ances- 
tors preserved  in  the  houses  of  the  Roman  aristocracy,  in 
which  the  hair  was  painted.  But  there  are  strong  reasons 
for  thinking  that  the  busts  are  those  of  priests  of  Isis,  who 
shaved  their  heads  and  were  branded  as  a  token  of  dedi- 
cation. The  present  example  was  executed  in  the  second 
century  a.d.,  as  is  shown  by  the  plastic  treatment  of  the  iris 


VII.]  THE  CAPITOL  119 

and  pupil  (see  above,  p.  38).  51  is  an  Augustan  portrait, 
but  not,  as  it  has  been  called,  Pompey.  53  is  a  very  poor 
portrait  of  Menander,  better  represented  in  the  Vatican 
(p.  314).  54,  wrongly  called  Sappho,  is  a  fifth  century  type 
of  Athena.  56  is  a  good  and  characteristic  portrait  of  a 
Hellenistic  philosopher  ;  58,  a  poor  bust  of  Plato  (see  p.  284). 
59  is  a  fierce-looking,  barbaric  youth  which  has  been  called 
Arminius,  but  is  really  of  the  second  century  a.d.  61  is  the 
orator  ^schines  (see  p.  283) ;  62  and  64  represent  Epicurus, 
the  founder  of  the  Epicurean  school,  and  his  friend  Metro- 
dorus,  who  are  also  portrayed  on  the  double  herm  63.  66  is 
signed  by  Zenas  of  Aphrodisias,  probably  the  father  of  the 
artist  mentioned  on  p.  114,  and  is  a  very  fair  portrait  dating 
from  about  the  end  of  Trajan's  reign.  68,  once  known  as 
Massinissa,  is  a  copy  of  an  Attic  original  of  the  fifth  century 
B.C.  ;  the  suggestion  that  it  may  represent  Miltiades  is  at 
least  possible.  69  dates  from  the  same  period,  but  is  hard 
to  interpret ;  the  fillet  or  diadem  which  it  wears  was  perhaps 
misunderstood  by  the  Roman  copyist.  70  is  a  portrait  of 
the  cynic  Antisthenes  (see  p.  283).  72  and  'j'^  are  replicas 
of  the  so-called  Julian  the  Apostate  (p.  115);  the  style  of  the 
former  shows  that  the  common  original  was  of  bronze.  It 
was  of  the  fifth  century  B.C.,  no  doubt  representing  a  philo- 
sopher, whom  we  are  not  able  to  identify,  and  must  rank  as 
one  of  the  earliest  true  portraits  preserved  to  us.  75  is 
proved  to  be  a  portrait  of  Cicero  by  its  resemblance  to  a 
bust  in  Apsley  House  (much  restored)  which  is  inscribed 
with  his  name.  Its  refined  and  intellectual,  but  somewhat 
weak  and  nervous  expression,  suits  well  with  the  character 
of  the  orator.  76  has  been  called  Terence,  but  the  mask 
engraved  on  the  shoulder  indicates  a  writer  of  tragedy,  not 
comedy,  and  it  is  a  work  of  the  third  century  a.d.  ']']-  79 
are  replicas  of  an  ideal  portrait,  indicated  by  the  fillet  as 
that  of  a  priest  or  poet.  It  may  represent  a  comparatively 
early  conception  of  Homer,  or  possibly  of  Hesiod.  80, 
wearing  an  Oriental  turban,  has  been  shown  to  represent 
Pythagoras  from  its  resemblance  to  a  head  on  an  inscribed 
^'contornjate ''  or  toke^,     81  is  a  work  of  the  school  >vhich 


I20  THE   CAPITOL  [vii. 

produced  the  Periander  of  the  Vatican  (p.  281).  82,  a  fine 
portrait,  has  been  conjectured  on  account  of  its  baldness  to 
represent  ^^ischylus  or  Phidias.  Others  believe  that  the 
forehead  is  that  of  a  mathematician,  and  suggest  Archi- 
medes. In  any  case  it  can  scarcely  be  earlier  than  the 
fourth  century  B.C.  83,  a  bust  in  dark  grey  marble  of  about 
the  middle  of  the  second  century  A.D.,  has  two  replicas,  at 
Modena  and  at  Florence,  one  of  which  is  inscribed  with 
the  name  of  Euripides  and  the  other  with  that  of  Homer. 
Both  inscriptions  are,  of  course,  forgeries,  and  the  busts 
probably  represent  Tiberius  Julius  Rhoemetalces,  King  of 
Bosphorus  (i.e.  the  Crimea)  under  Antoninus  Pius.  The 
busts  which  follow  are  mostly  portraits  of  nameless  Greek 
philosophers,  except  85,  which  reproduces  an  ideal  type  of 
the  fifth  century.  95  has  "been  thought  to  be  Sophocles,  but 
with  little  reason.  96  is  a  replica,  showing  by  its  technique 
that  the  original  from  which  it  was  copied  was  of  bronze,  of 
a  portrait  in  Naples  inscribed  with  the  name  of  the  orator 
Lysias,  a  very  fine  work.  If  that  inscription  be  accepted  as 
genuine,  1 5  cannot  be  a  portrait  of  the  orator.  97  is  Theo- 
phrastus,  the  successor  of  Aristotle  as  head  of  the  Lyceum. 

In  the  centre  of  the  room  is  a  seated  statue,  the  motive 
of  which  may  be  traced  to  a  Greek  original  of  the  fourth 
century  B.C.  by  comparing  a  statue  in  Naples,  inscribed  with 
the  name  of  Moschion,  an  Athenian  tragic  poet.  A  modern 
head  was  added  in  the  sixteenth  century,  and  the  statue  has 
been  called  by  the  name  of  M.  Claudius  Marcellus,  the 
conqueror  of  Syracuse. 

On  the  walls  of  this  room  may  be  seen  a  number  of  reliefs, 
several  of  which  belong  to  a  frieze  ornamented  with  sacri- 
ficial instruments  and  parts  of  ships.  On  the  R.  of  the 
window  is  one  (121)  which  represents  a  harbour  and  land- 
scape :  this  class  of  relief  is  often  called  Hellenistic,  but  few 
of  the  extant  examples  can  be  earfier  than  the  Imperial 
period.  On  the  L.  wall  is  one  (in)  in  rosso  antico^ 
representing  a  sacrifice  to  Hygieia,  the  goddess  of  health, 
the  subject  of  which  is  almost  exactly  reproduced  on  a 
me(J.^llion  struck  by  Marcus  ^urelius  ;  also  (no)  a  relief  in 


I 


VII.]  THE  CAPITOL  121 

"  archaistic  "  style,  representing  Pan  and  the  Nymphs,  with 
the  signature  of  Callimachus,  possibly  added  in  order  to 
claim  the  work  for  an  Attic  artist  of  that  name  who  lived 
towards  the  close  of  the  fifth  century  B.C.  On  the  opposite 
wall  (118)  is  a  curious  Bacchic  reHef,  other  replicas  of  which 
exist ;  the  original  must  have  been  of  the  Hellenistic  period. 
The  subjects  cannot  be  satisfactorily  explained. 

We  pass  through  the  further  door  and  enter  the  large 
hall  or  salone.  In  the  centre  of  the  room  we  notice  five 
statues  made  of  dark  material.  In  the  middle  is  (3)  an 
almost  repulsive  figure  in  black  basalt  representing  Heracles 
as  a  child  of  colossal  dimensions  ;  it  rests  on  a  marble  base 
decorated  with  reliefs  showing  the  birth,  upbringing  and 
triumph  of  Zeus  in  the  "archaising"  style  of  Neo- Attic  art. 
On  either  side  of  it  (2,  4)  are  two  Centaurs  in  bigio  morato. 
They  were  found  in  Hadrian's  Villa  near  Tivoli,  and  we 
learn  from  the  inscriptions  upon  their  bases  that  they  were 
the  work  of  two  Greek  artists,  Aristeas  and  Papias,  of  Aphro- 
disias  in  Caria  (S.  W.  Asia  Minor)  :  but  these  were  only 
copyists  of  the  second  century  A.D.  belonging  to  the  school 
whose  portraits  we  have  already  noticed  (p.  114).  They 
chose  black  marble  in  order  to  give  the  effect  of  bronze,  and 
certainly  showed  great  technical  dexterity  in  imitating 
bronze  technique,  with  all  its  undercutting  and  minuteness 
of  detail.  The  originals  were  of  the  late  Hellenistic  period, 
and  more  particularly  of  the  Rhodian  school,  as  we  see  by 
comparing  the  head  of  the  old  Centaur  with  that  of  the 
Laocoon  (p.  301).  Originally  each  of  the  Centaurs  was 
ridden  by  a  small  figure  of  Eros  (Cupid)  ;  the  old  one  had 
his  hands  tied  behind  his  back  and  the  merciless  little  god 
was  tugging  at  his  hair  ;  the  young  one  listens  smilingly 
to  the  Love-god's  advice.  In  the  replica  in  the  Vatican 
(p.  286)  he  holds  a  hare  in  his  uplifted  R.  arm  ;  but  this  is 
a  restoration —probably  a  wrong  one.  In  any  case  the 
figures  symbolise  the  contrasted  effects  of  love  on  old  and 
young.  The  two  figures  at  the  ends  of  the  row  (i,  5)  repre- 
sent Zeus  and  Asclepios. 

The  statues  which  surround  the  walls  illustrate  most  of 


122  THE  CAPITOL  [vii. 

the  principal  phases  of  Greek  and  Graeco- Roman  sculpture, 
and  several  of  them  are  worthy  of  attention  on  that  account, 
although  their  artistic  merit,  whether  as  copies  or  as 
originals,  is  not  of  the  highest.  In  the  first  place,  we  have 
fifth =century  art  represented  by  the  two  Amazons  (19 
and  33),  two  statues  of  Apollo  (20,  30)  and  one  of  Hera  (24). 
Let  us  take  the  Apollos  first.  20  is  notable  for  its  powerful 
muscular  build,  which  has  led  some  archaeologists  to  consider 
it  as  in  origin  an  athletic  type,  adapted  by  copyists  in 
Roman  times  to  the  representation  of  Apollo.  We  hear  ot 
a  certain  Pythagoras  of  Rhegium  (Reggio  in  Calabria)  as 
the  first  to  represent  the  hair  in  a  naturalistic  way,  and  to 
indicate  the  veins  in  his  athlete-statues  ;  and  this  is  certainly 
a  work  to  which  such  a  description  might  apply.  Others 
think  that  Calamis,  an  Athenian  artist,  who  lived  just  before 
Phidias  in  the  early  half  of  the  fifth  century  B.C.,  and  was 
renowned  for  the  "  delicacy  and  grace  "  of  his  work,  may 
have  been  the  sculptor  of  the  original — evidently  a  famous 
work,  since  several  copies  are  known,  amongst  them  a  fine 
one  in  the  British  Museum,  usually  called  the  "  Choisent- 
Goufiier "  Apollo,  and  another  in  Athens,  found  near  the 
Theatre  of  Dionysus,  and  generally  called  the  "  Apollo  on 
the  Omphalos"  because  it  was  wrongly  supposed  to  have 
stood  on  a  representation  of  the  Delphic  Omphalos  (a 
conical  stone  supposed  to  mark  the  "  navel  of  the  earth  ") 
found  near  to  it.  The  legs  are  not  correctly  restored :  in 
the  original  the  pose  was  stiffer,  and  the  graceful  contrast 
between  the  leg  upon  which  the  weight  of  the  statue  rested, 
and  that  which  was  free — the  creation  of  the  great  fifth 
century  artists— was  not  emphasised.  The  figure  should 
probably  be  restored  with  a  bow  in  the  right  hand  and 
a  branch  of  bay  in  the  left.  30  belongs  to  a  somewhat  more 
advanced  stage  of  art.  If  not,  as  some  have  thought,  copied 
from  a  work  of  Phidias  himself,  it  certainly  proceeds  from 
his  school.  We  can  still  trace  the  influence  of  athletic 
sculpture  in  the  powerfully  built  frame,  but  there  is  more 
naturalism  than  in  No.  20.  It  is  unfortunately  not  clear 
that  the  head,  which  has  been  reset,  belonged  to  the  statue, 


VII.]  THE   CAPITOL  123 

but  at  any  rate  the  traces  of  flowing  locks  upon  the  shoulders 
and  the  quiver  on  the  support  prove  that  this  is  no  human 
figure,  but  Apollo.  The  surface  has  suffered  much  from 
modern  polishing. 

We  now  turn  to  the  Amazons.  Pliny  tells  a  story  that 
four  sculptors  of  the  fifth  century — Phidias,  Polyclitus, 
Cresilas,  and  Phradmon — executed  statues  of  Amazons  in 
competition  for  the  temple  of  Artemis  at  Ephesus,  and  that 
Polyclitus  was  adjudged  the  winner  by  the  votes  of  the 
artists  themselves.  The  anecdote  is  hardly  worthy  of 
credence  ;  but  there  were-doubtless  such  statues  at  Ephesus, 
where  (according  to  the  local  legend)  the  Amazons  had 
taken  sanctuary  when  pursued  by  Heracles  and  Dionysus. 
Three  of  these  Amazons  have  been  identified  with  some 
approach  to  certainty.  That  of  Phidias  is  represented  by 
No.  4  in  the  room  of  the  Gladiator,  which  will  be  described 
presently  ;  that  of  Polyclitus  by  a  statue  in  the  Braccio 
Nuovo  (p.  327).  This  latter  has  a  wound  in  her  R.  breast ; 
but  her  attitude— she  is  resting  her  weight  on  the  R.  foot, 
and  raising  her  R.  arm  very  much  in  the  pose  of  the  Apollo 
in  this  room  (No.  7) — would  tend  to  increase  the  pain  of  her 
wound.  The  type  represented  by  No.  19  and  (better  still) 
by  No.  33  (which  retains  its  original  head)  almost  seems 
like  a  criticism  in  marble  on  the  work  of  Polyclitus.  The 
Amazon  rests  her  weight  not  on  the  R.  but  on  the  L.  foot, 
and  with  her  L.  hand  (if  rightly  restored)  draws  her  tunic 
away  from  the  wounds  in  her  R.  side,  while  with  her  R.  hand 
— as  is  shown  by  the  design  on  an  ancient  gem  copied  from 
this  type — she  grasps  and  leans  upon  her  spear.  In  the 
expression  of  the  face,  too,  there  is  a  marked  advance  on 
the  Polyclitan  type,  and  when  we  compare  the  portrait  of 
Pericles  (cf.  p.  281)  we  recognise  the  work  of  the  Attic 
sculptor  Cresilas.  The  name  Sosicles,  engraved  on  the 
support  of  the  L.  leg,  is  that  of  the  copyist.  Let  us  now  turn 
to  (34)  an  imposing  figure  of  the  matronly  goddess  Hera,^ 
which  should  be  compared  with  the  colossal  statue  in  the 
Vatican  Rotunda  (p.  278).     The  style  of  the  drapery  and 

^  Or  perhaps  Demeter  (Ceres). 


124  THE  CAPITOL  [vii. 

the  quiet  dignity  of  the  figure  enable  us  to  date  the  original 
in  the  latter  half  of  the  fifth  century  and  ascribe  it 
to  the  Attic  school,  perhaps  to  Alcamenes,  a  pupil  of 
Phidias. 

We  come  next  to  fourth=century  art,  and  notice  two 
more  types  of  Apollo,  which  clearly  illustrate  the  difference 
in  spirit  between  this  period  and  that  of  the  early  fifth 
century.  Upon  No.  7  has  been  placed  a  head  belonging  to 
an  earlier  type,  represented  by  the  very  similar,  but  un- 
draped,  figure  in  the  room  of  the  dying  Gaul.  The  pose  of 
the  R.  arm  is  similar  to  that  of  the  wounded  Amazon  of 
Polyclitus,  but  this  is  the  only  survival  of  fifth-century 
tradition.  Apollo  is  about  to  awaken  by  his  touch  the  music 
of  the  lyre  upon  which  his  L.  hand  rests,  but  for  the  moment 
he  is  meditating  on  the  song  he  is  to  utter.  The  forms  are 
no  longer  those  of  the  trained  athlete,  but  full  and  delicately 
modelled.  The  drapery  which  enwraps  the  lower  limbs  is 
an  addition  by  the  artist,  who  modified  the  type  above- 
mentioned  ;  the  original  creation  was  due  to  the  school  of 
Praxiteles.  Another  Apollo  (31)  illustrates  the  search  for 
new  poses,  in  which  Praxiteles  led  the  way,  and  may  also 
be  set  down  to  the  credit  of  his  school,  if  not  of  the  master 
himself.  And  in  21  we  have  an  example  of  a  motive  which 
— though  common  in  painting,  as  the  vases  show — was 
introduced  into  sculpture  in  the  fourth  century.  It  is  hard 
to  say  whether  the  youth  who  raises  his  R.  hand  while  his 
L.  rests  upon  the  leg,  which  is  supported  on  a  rock,  is  but  a 
mortal  athlete  or  Hermes  the  Orator,  who  seems  to  have 
been  represented  in  this  pose.  In  any  case  the  work  seems 
to  be  copied  from  an  original  of  Lysippus  or  his  school. 
Lastly,  No.  12  is  a  fourth-century  athlete  type,  hard  to 
assign  to  any  school.  It  may  be  copied  from  a  work  of  the 
Corinthian  Euphranor. 

Amongst  the  types  which  date  from  the  Hellenistic  period 
the  most  interesting  is  the  old  woman  (22),  a  figure  which 
was  once  thought  to  represent  the  nurse  of  the  Niobids 
(cf.  p.  324).  It  clearly,  however,  belongs  to  a  much  later 
date,  and  in  its  repulsive  realism  recalls  the  drunken  old 


VII.]  THE  CAPITOL  125 

woman  in  the  gallery  (p.  109).  Clearly  it  once  formed  part 
of  a  group,  the  action  of  which  must  have  accounted  for 
the  terror  expressed  in  the  attitude  (the  head  is  modern). 
28  is  interesting  as  an  example  of  the  new  ideal  of  divinity 
created  by  Alexandrian  artists  to  embody  the  conceptions 
of  Graeco-Egyptian  religion.  It  represents  Harpocrates, 
or  "the  child  Horus,"  son  of  Isis  and  Osiris,  and  the 
childish  gesture  which  the  Greeks  noticed  in  Egyptian 
statues  of  Horus  was  understood  to  betoken  silence.  Thus 
Harpocrates  became  the  God  of  Silence.  The  statue  was 
found  in  the  Villa  of  Hadrian,  for  whom  Egyptian  cults 
had  a  powerful  attraction.  No.  6  is  a  replica  of  the  Satyr 
in  the  next  room,  to  be  described  presently. 

The  Roman  period  is  represented  by  two  colossal  busts 
—of  Trajan  (9)  and  Antoninus  Pius  (25) — which  are  prob- 
ably modern,  and  some  portrait  statues.  14  (sometimes 
called  "  Marius" )  is  a  very  moderate  piece  of  work  of  the 
late  Republican  period,  chiefly  interesting  as  showing  the 
fashion  of  wearing  the  toga ;  10  is  a  nude  figure  derived 
from  a  fifth-century  athletic  type,  upon  which  a  head  of 
Augustus  has  been  set.  13  is  Hadrian,  with  the  attributes  of 
Mars,  15  a  Roman  lady  to  whom  a  portrait-head  of  the 
second  century  has  been  assigned  by  the  restorer  ;  32  Marcus 
Aurelius.  The  poorest,  but  most  interesting,  of  these 
Roman  works  is  34,  which  represents  a  man  and  woman 
with  the  attributes  of  Venus  and  Mars — the  progenitors  of 
the  Julian  house.  The  artist  has  conbined  in  this  group 
two  types  differing  in  style  and  date.  The  "  Mars "  is 
modelled  on  a  fifth-century  Ares  of  the  Attic  school,  the 
"  Venus "  is  taken  from  the  "  Aphrodite  holding  a  shield," 
whose  history  can  be  traced  through  a  long  succession  of 
variants,  the  most  famous  of  which  is  the  "Venus  of 
Milo"  in  the  Louvre.  No  better  example  could  be  found 
of  the  unintelligent  adaptation  of  Greek  types  in  the  work- 
shops of  the  Empire.  Notice  finally  the  curious  statue  of 
a  hunter  (27)  with  the  traits  of  a  Roman  of  the  Antonine 
period,  holding  a  hare  (mostly  restored)  in  his  uplifted  R. 
hand.     The    sculptor    has    used    and    modified    an    early 


126  THE  CAPITOL  [vii. 

athletic  type  to  represent  the  patron  of  the  freedman 
Polytimus,  whose  name  is  inscribed  on  the  pHnth. 

High  up  on  the  walls  are  a  number  of  busts  and  heads 
placed  on  brackets,  which  are  difficult  to  study.  Perhaps 
the  most  interesting  are  38,  which  seems  to  belong  to  the 
time  of  Gallienus  (cf.  p.  115),  and  resembles  a  portrait  in  the 
Braccio  Nuovo  (p.  326),  39,  recalling  Philip  the  Arabian 
(cf.  p.  329),  and  66,  which  has  been  thought  to  represent 
Diocletian,  and  is  in  any  case  a  rare  and  interesting  ex- 
ample of  the  portraiture  of  the  late  third  century  A.D. 

We  now  pass  into  the  Room  of  the  Faun,  which  takes 
its  name  from  the  statue  in  red  marble  {Rosso  antico)  which 
stands  in  the  centre  of  the  room.  This  was  found  in 
Hadrian's  villa,  in  another  part  of  which  the  replica,  also 
in  Rosso  antico^  now  in  the  Vatican  (p.  299),  came  to  light. 
The  use  of  a  costly  material  and  the  elaborate  and  finicking 
treatment  of  detail  remind  us  of  the  Centaurs  in  the  Salone, 
and  we  are  tempted  to  ascribe  the  red  Satyrs  to  the  same 
group  of  copyists.  More  than  this,  the  original,  which  was 
certainly  of  the  Hellenistic  age,  may  well  have  been  a  work 
of  the  school  which  produced  the  Centaurs.  The  R.  hand 
has  been  rightly  restored  with  a  bunch  of  grapes  which  the 
Satyr  is  holding  up  in  delight,  while  with  his  L.  he  clasps  an 
armful  of  grapes  and  pomegranates.  The  pose  of  the  statue 
is  traceable  to  Lysippus,  but  the  realistic  conception  and 
treatment  of  the  Satyr  as  a  peasant  type  belongs  to  a  much 
later  time. 

The  Satyr  stands  on  a  base  in  which  have  been  inserted 
four  slabs  belonging  to  an  altar  dedicated,  as  the  inscrip- 
tion within  the  laurel-wreath  on  the  back  tells  us,  to 
"Jupiter  the  Best  and  Greatest,  the  Sun,  Serapis,"  by  a 
certain  Scipio  Orfitus.  From  the  titles  which  he  bears  it  is 
certain  that  he  was  a  personage  who  lived  at  the  close  of 
the  third  century  A.D. — the  last  member  known  to  us  of  a 
family  distinguished  throughout  the  history  of  the  Empire  ; 
but  it  is  equally  certain  that  the  altar  is  much  earlier  in  date 
than  his  time.  Probably  it  was  executed  to  the  order  of 
one  of  the  earlier  Scipios  in  the  first  century  A.D.    Notice 


VII.]  THE  CAPITOL  127 

the  remarkable  relief  on  the  side  facing  the  window — an 
armed  figure  riding  upon  a  bull  and  holding  an  olive-branch 
and  cornucopia,  who  approaches  a  reclining  earth-goddess  ; 
in  the  background  is  a  fortified  precinct  within  which  are 
cypress  trees.  The  rider  must  represent  one  of  the  Syrian 
baalim  or  sun-gods,  and  the  altar  bears  testimony  to  the 
early  introduction  of  such  worships  into  Imperial  Rome.  On 
either  side  of  the  room  are  characteristic  sarcophagi  repre- 
senting (3)  Selene  visiting  Endymion,  (18)  a  battle  of  Greeks 
and  Amazons.  Upon  these  are  placed  heads,  amongst 
which  we  may  note  (6)  a  female  head,  probably  intended  for 
Isis  ;  the  back  was  veiled,  and  some  ornament,  such  as  a 
lotus-flower,  was  inserted  in  front  ;  also  two  heads  of 
Dionysius  (19  and  21),  the  latter  very  graceful  and  feminine, 
and  hence  often  miscalled  Ariadne.  In  the  far  right-hand 
corner  is  a  statuette  of  a  boy  strangling  a  goose,  which 
reproduces  a  famous  work  of  the  early  Hellenistic  period 
by  Boethus  of  Chalcedon — perhaps  the  earfiest  masterpiece 
of  true  genre  in  sculpture.  The  same  spirit  breathes  in 
(8)  the  child  playing  with  the  mask  of  Silenus.  Close  to 
the  entrance-door  are  three  altars — to  Neptune,  Calm,  and 
the  Winds — found  at  Antium  (Porto  d'Anzo)  ;  on  the  first  of 
these  is  a  colossal  head  of  Heracles,  belonging  to  the 
gigantic  type  of  the  hero  created  towards  the  end  of 
the  fourth  century  B.C.  There  are  some  Roman  busts  in  this 
room,  chiefly  of  the  second  century  :  one  (2)  is  of  the  third, 
and  has  the  name  of  the  subject — Cethegus — inscribed 
upon  it.  It  illustrates  the  late  fashion  of  wearing  the  toga 
with  carefully  laid  folds  across  the  breast  {coniabidatio). 

On  the  wall  opposite  the  entrance  will  be  seen  a  bronze 
tablet  once  famous  under  the  name  of  "  Lex  Regia,"  to 
which  Cola  di  Rienzo  appealed  in  vindication  of  the  rights 
of  the  Roman  people.  Modern  criticism  has  shown  that  it 
is  a  fragment  of  the  Act  formally  passed  on  the  accession 
of  Vespasian  in  a.d.  69  (as  on  that  of  each  emperor  in  turn), 
conferring  upon  him  the  various  rights,  offices,  and  privileges 
which  made  up  the  Imperial  prerogative.  It  is  couched  in 
the  form  proper  to  a  decree  of  the  Senate,  but  was  doubtless 


^28  THE  CAPITOL  [vii. 

submitted  for  ratification  to  the  nominally  sovereign  people  ; 
and  the  several  clauses  are  interesting  as  showing  how 
additions  were  made  from  time  to  time  to  the  prerogatives 
of  the  emperor.  On  the  opposite  wall  are  reliefs  and  in- 
scriptions, some  of  which  belong  to  tombstones  of  the 
Equites  Singulares  —  a  force  of  Imperial  household 
cavalry. 

We  now  pass  into  the  Room  of  the  Dying  Gaul,  which 
contains  the  statues  removed  to  Paris  by  Napoleon  I  and 
restored  after  his  fall.  It  takes  its  name  from  the  figure  in 
the  centre  of  the  room,  so  famous  under  the  name  of  the 
*•  Dying  Gladiator."  This  statue  once  belonged  to  the 
Ludovisi,  and  was  probably  discovered  when  their  villa  was 
built  on  the  site  of  the  Park  of  Sallust  (p.  194),  together  with 
that  of  the  Gaul  and  his  wife,  which  we  shall  see  in  the 
Museo  delle  Terme  (p.  209).  Both  are  copies— probably 
made  in  Pergamon  itself — from  figures  set  up  by  Attains  I 
(B.C.  241-197)  on  the  citadel  of  Pergamon  to  celebrate  his 
victories  over  the  Gallic  tribes  who  had  established  them- 
selves in  Asia  Minor  and,  whether  as  mercenaries  or  as 
raiders,  harried  their  neighbours  on  all  sides.  The  Celtic 
type,  with  its  coarse,  mane-like  hair  and  unshaven  upper 
lip,  is  clearly  indicated  ;  and  the  twisted  golden  collar 
{torques)  was,  as  we  know,  regularly  worn  by  the  Gauls.  It 
has  been  thought  that  the  warrior  has  inflicted  the  fatal 
wound  with  his  own  hand  in  order  to  escape  captivity,  but 
a  self-inflicted  wound  would  not  be  on  the  R.  side.  He  has 
broken  the  horn  which  lies  beside  him,  and  is  gradually 
sinking  in  his  death-agony  upon  his  shield,  a  lonely  and 
pathetic  figure  which,  in  spite  of  all  the  uncouthness  of  the 
barbaric  form,  cannot  fail  to  arouse  our  sympathy. 

No.  2,  a  majestic  female  divinity,  probably  Persephone, 
seems  to  be  a  work  of  the  later  Pergamene  school  :  a  small 
but  characteristic  detail  is  the  indication  of  creases  in  the 
drapery.  This  school  (which  flourished  in  the  second 
century  B.C.)  was  eclectic  in  its  method ;  and  so  we  find 
that  the  head  of  the  goddess  is  inspired  by  earlier  Attic 
types.     Next  to  this  is  (3)  a  colossal  head  in  which  we  re- 


VII.]  THE   CAPITOL  129 

cognise  a  highly  idealised  portrait  of  Alexander  the 
Great.  In  the  hair  are  seven  holes  for  the  insertion  of 
golden  rays  which  marked  Alexander  as  the  Sun-God. 
4  is  another  member  of  the  group  of  Amazons  mentioned 
on  p.  123  ;  but  she  is  unwounded,  and  the  most  probable 
explanation  of  the  pose  is  that  she  was  planting  her  spear 
firmly  on  the  ground  in  order  to  use  it  as  a  leaping  pole  to 
mount  her  horse.  The  spear  (or  pole)  is  shown  in  an  ancient 
gem.  We  are  told  that  the  Amazon  of  Phidias  was  "lean- 
ing on  her  spear,"'  and  as  those  of  Polyclitus  and  Cresilas 
are  accounted  for,  it  is  natural  to  seek  that  of  the  Attic 
master  in  this  statue  ;  unfortunately  neither  this  nor  any 
replica  (such  as  that  in  the  Vatican,  p.  291)  possesses  its 
original  head.  Beside  it  we  see  (5)  a  fine  head  of  Dionysus, 
which,  like  No.  21,  in  the  Room  of  the  Faun,  has  been 
wrongly  supposed  to  be  female  and  called  Ariadne.  The 
dreamy,  effeminate  face  embodies  an  ideal  of  the  god 
created  by  the  school  of  Praxiteles  and  gradually  perfected 
in  the  Hellenistic  period,  to  which  this  head  belongs. 
6  is  a  curious  figure  of  no  great  artistic  merit  found  in 
Hadrian's  Villa,  together  with  the  colossal  head  of  Isis  now 
in  the  Museo  Chiaramonti  (p.  314),  and  seems  to  represent 
a  priestess  of  that  goddess  carrying  water  for  the  purifica- 
tion connected  with  her  worship.  7  has  been  mentioned 
in  connection  with  the  similar  Apollo  in  the  Salone.  8  is 
a  very  fine  portrait  of  a  Greek  philosopher — possibly 
even  an  original.  It  has  been  called  by  the  name  of  Zeno, 
the  founder  of  the  Stoic  school,  for  no  better  reason  than  the 
fact  (which  is  itself  doubtful)  that  it  was  found  in  a  villa  be- 
lieved to  have  been  the  residence  of  the  Antonine  Emperors. 
It  bears  no  resemblance,  however,  to  the  bust  at  Naples  in- 
scribed with  the  name  of  Zeno— if  that  be  indeed  the  Stoic 
and  not  a  later  Epicurean.  The  statue  is  a  masterpiece,  not 
so  much  because  of  its  realism — although  the  artist  has 
spared  no  detail,  however  unsightly,  which  he  saw  in  his 
subject — but  by  reason  of  its  intimate  grasp  and  convincing 
revelation  of  character— of  soul  expressing  itself  through 
body.     9   is    a    good  example  of   Hellenistic  ge7ire-si\x\\i- 

K 


I30  THE  CAPITOL  [vii. 

ture— a  girl  protecting  her  pet  bird  from  an  animal,  probably 
a  cat  or  dog  (the  snake  is  a  false  restoration).  lo  is  the 
famous  Marble  Faun,  a  good  copy  of  the  "  Resting  Satyr" 
of  Praxiteles,  which  was  one  of  the  most  characteristic 
creations  of  his  genius.  Notice  firstly  the  pose,  the  charm 
of  Avhich  rests  in  the  rhythm  of  its  curve.  This  was  the 
invention  of  Praxiteles  and  became  almost  a  mannerism  in 
his  hands.  Then  observe  the  modelling  of  the  bodily  forms, 
so  different  from  that  of  the  athletes  of  the  fifth  century  with 
their  sharply  outlined  muscles.  It  is  here  that  the  copies 
fail  us  most  of  all.  Some  will  remember  a  torso  in  the 
Louvre  belonging  to  a  replica  of  this  type,  and  so  immeasur- 
ably superior  to  the  other  copies  in  the  exquisite  modelling 
of  its  surface  that  it  has  been  thought  to  be  the  original. 
Lastly,  consider  the  spirit  of  the  work.  Praxiteles  has 
transformed  the  wild,  half-bestial  creature  haunting  the 
forests  into  a  dreamy,  sensuous  embodiment  of  undying 
youth,  sunk  in  the  reverie  induced  by  the  music  of  his 
flute.  Only  the  pointed  ears  hint  at  the  animal  nature  of  the 
Satyr.  No.  12  presents  a  curious  problem.  It  was  found  in 
Hadrian's  Villa,  and  is  often  supposed  to  be  a  portrait  of 
Antinous  (see  p.  279).  But  though  the  features  seem  too 
individual  for  a  purely  ideal  type,  they  are  not  those  of 
Antinous.  Unfortunately  the  object  once  held  in  the  R.  hand 
is  lost,  and  we  cannot  be  sure  that  it  was  the  wand  of 
Hermes,  as  some  think,  or  a  fishing-rod,  which  might  pos- 
sibly be  an  attribute  of  Narcissus.  Probably  the  statue — 
or  its  original,  for  the  smooth,  lifeless  work  is  that  of  Had- 
rian's time— adorned  a  grave-monument  and  represented 
the  dead  person  in  a  semi-divine  form.  14  is  also  from 
Hadrian's  Villa,  and  is  similar  to  12  in  its  execution.  It 
is  often  called  "  Flora,"  but  is  merely  a  genre  figure.  The 
original,  as  the  undercutting  of  the  drapery  shows,  was  of 
bronze.  15  represents  a  priestess  of  Isis,  as  the  peculiar 
fashion  in  which  the  dress  is  fastened  shows,  and  has  been 
restored  accordingly.  16  is  a  remarkable  bust  of  the 
Early  Empire.  It  has  been  described  as  a  portrait  of 
Brutus,    the    murderer  of    Caesar,   a  view    now   generally 


vii]  THE   CAPITOL  131 

abandoned,  or  again  as  a  bust  of  Virgil,  from  a  supposed 
resefnblance  to  a  mosaic  found  in  N.  Africa  upon  which 
the  poet  is  represented.  Strong  reasons,  however,  exist 
for  beheving  that  it  represents  Agrippa  Postumus,  the 
youngest  of  Augustus'  grandsons,  and  the  "black  sheep" 
of  his  family,  who  was  put  to  death  on  the  accession  of 
Tiberius. 

Leaving  the  Museo  Capitolino,  we  cross  the  Piazza  and 
enter  the  Palazzo  dei  Conservator!,  in  which  are  pre- 
served the  bronzes  and  historical  sculpture  forming  the 
nucleus  of  the  municipal  collection,  together  with  the  most 
important  works  discovered  in  recent  times  which  have  be- 
come the  property  of  the  municipality. 

We  enter  a  courtyard,  and  notice  in  the  portico  to  R, 
and  L.  two  colossal  statues,  supposed  to  represent  Julius 
Caesar  and  Augustus.  That  on  the  r.  of  the  entrance 
may  be  a  portrait  of  the  Dictator,  though  it  certainly  is  not 
a  contemporary  one  ;  the  other  represented  an  Admiral,  as 
we  see  by  the  ship's  beak  carved  upon  its  plinth,  but  the 
head  has  been  reset  and  may  not  have  belonged  to  the 
statue. 

Along  the  L.  wall  are  ranged  a  series  of  interesting  reliefs 
discovered  in  the  Piazza  di  Pietra,  which  once  adorned  the 
stylobate  of  the  temple  now  converted  into  the  Stock 
Exchange  (p.  182).  Whatever  this  building  Ivas,  the  reliefs 
certainly  personify  the  various  provinces  of  the  Roman 
Empire,  and  date  from  the  Antonine  period.  In  style  and 
conception  they  mark  a  compromise  between  the  classicism 
which  was  then  in  fashion  and  the  realistic  Roman  spirit. 
The  figures  were  placed  underneath  the  columns  of  the 
temple,  while  the  trophies  (in  flat  relief)  decorated  the  inter- 
columnar  spaces.  Unfortunately  these  reliefs  were  found  at 
different  times,  and  have  been  scattered  in  different  collec- 
tions— three  at  Naples,  one  in  the  Palazzo  Farnese,  one  in 
the  Palazzo  Odescalchi,  one  in  the  Vatican  (p.  332),  and  two 
high  up  in  the  facade  of  the  Villa  Doria  Pamfili.  Those 
which  are  here  preserved,  however,  suffice  to  give  a  good 
impression  of  a  branch  of  art  in  which  Roman  sculptors 


132  THE  CAPITOL  [vii. 

found  much  scope  for  their  invention.  Some  are  simply 
conventional  female  figures,  clad  in  Greek  costume,  whose 
attitude  indicates,  with  restraint  and  dignity,  the  regret  of  the 
conquered  people  for  their  lost  freedom  :  such  is  the  queenly 
figure  with  folded  arms  interpreted  as  Germany  or  Gaul.  In 
others  there  is  more  attempt  at  characterisation — the  short 
crisp  hair  of  the  figure  on  the  R.  betokens  an  African 
province  (Mauretania  or  Numidia)  and  the  drapery  knotted 
at  the  waist  of  another  figure  suggests  an  Egyptian  fashion. 
Others,  again,  are  distinguished  by  their  national  arms — 
the  short  battle-axe  of  the  "Ungaria'' — as  the  modern  in- 
scription calls  it— points  to  the  North,  and  the  cuirass  worn 
over  tunic  and  trousers  is  thought  to  belong  to  Spain. 

Above  the  figure  of  Egypt  is  a  colossal  head,  which  with 
other  fragments  (on  the  R.  side  of  the  court)  belonged  to  a 
statue  found  in  the  Basilica  of  Constantine  (p.  78)  and 
almost  certainly  representing  the  first  Christian  Emperor. 
The  head  is  a  fine  example  of  the  portraiture  of  that  age 
when  sculpture  had  ceased  to  be  naturalistic  and  become 
almost  monumental.  Probably  the  head  and  extremities 
only  were  of  marble,  the  rest  of  wood  plated  with  gilt 
bronze.  Opposite  the  entrance  is  a  statue  restored  as  Rome, 
at  whose  feet  is  a  keystone  decorated  with  a  figure  in  relief 
which  represents  a  mourning  province,  and  on  either  side 
are  statues  of  barbarians  in  dark  marble  which  remind  us 
of  those  of  the  Dacians  on  the  columns  of  the  Arch  of 
Constantine. 

Notice  on  the  R.  wall  the  urn  which  once  contained  the 
ashes  of  Agrippina  the  elder,  wife  of  Germanicus,  and  was 
used  in  the  Middle  Ages  as  a  measure  for  corn. 

Turning  to  the  L.  we  see  at  the  bottom  of  the  staircase 
a  modern  imitation  of  the  Columna  rostraia^  or  "  column  of 
the  beaks,"  which  was  set  up  in  honour  of  Gaius  Duilius, 
the  first  great  Roman  admiral,  who  defeated  the  Carthagin- 
ians at  Myla;  (N.  of  Sicily)  in  260  B.C.  Beneath  it  is  an 
inscription  recording  his  exploit — not,  however,  that  which 
was  engraved  in  the  third  century  B.C.,  but  a  restoration 
executed  under  the  Early  Empire,  when  ancient  monuments 


VII.]  THE  CAPITOL  133 

of  this  sort  were  refurbished.  Beyond  this  is  a  statue  of 
Charles  of  Anjou,  king  of  Sicily,  who  held  the  office  of 
Senator  of  Rome  in  the  thirteenth  century,  worthy  of  notice 
as  illustrating  the  difference  between  ancient  and  mediceval 
portrait-sculpture.  Ascending  the  staircase  we  notice  on 
the  L.  wall  a  relief  representing  M.  Curtius  leaping  into 
the  chasm  in  the  Forum  which  bore  his  name  (p.  60).  The 
clumsy  style  of  the  sculpture  shows  its  late  date — about  the 
end  of  the  third  century  A.D.  Upon  the  back  of  the  slab  is 
an  inscription  set  up  by  L.  NiEvius  Surdinus,  the  praetor 
whose  name  was  inscribed  upon  the  tribunal  in  the  P^orum  ; 
and  the  stone  was  used  at  a  much  later  time  (possibly  after 
the  great  fire  of  A.D.  285)  in  restoring  the  balustrade  which 
enclosed  the  Lacus  Curtius.  It  has  been  suggested  that 
the  relief  was  then  copied  from  an  archaic  monument ;  but 
it  may  well  have  been  due  to  the  invention  of  the  third- 
century  sculptor. 

Upon  the  two  landings  of  the  staircase  and  the  R.  wall  of 
the  corridor  at  the  top  are  several  panels  with  historical 
reliefs  of  the  second  century.  Three  of  these  (on  the  first 
landing)  belonged  to  a  triumphal  arch  set  up  in  honour  of 
Marcus  Aurelius'  victories  over  the  barbarians  on  the 
Danube  (a.d.  17 1-5)  ;  eight  others  of  the  same  series  were 
used  to  decorate  the  Arch  of  Constantine  (see  p.  251).  One 
of  those  which  we  see  here  represents  the  Emperor  receiving 
the  submission  of  barbarians  of  German  type  on  the  field  of 
battle.  The  others  depict  his  triumph,  celebrated  in  A. D.  1 76. 
In  the  first  we  see  him  in  his  triumphal  car,  beside  which  is 
a  youthful  ideal  figure— the  military  divinity  "  Honos '"— 
approaching  the  arch  which  gives  access  to  the  Capitol.  The 
second  shows  the  sacrifice  offered  in  fulfilment  of  his  vow 
to  Jupiter  Optimus  Maximus,  whose  temple  is  seen  in  the 
background.  We  know  that  this  temple  was  hexastyle— i.e. 
had  six  columns  in  the  front— but  it  is  here  shown  with  four 
only.  This  was  the  last  of  the  four  temples  erected  on 
the  foundations  originally  laid  by  the  kings.  The  first 
was  burnt  in  the  civil  war  of  Sulla  and  Marius  (83  B.C.),  the 
second  in  that  of  Vitellius  and  the  adherents  of  Vespasian 


134  THE  CAPITOL  [vW. 

(a.d.  69)  ;  the  third— rebuilt  by  Vespasian— was  destroyed 
in  the  great  fire  which  raged  in  A.D.  81.  Domitian  was 
the  builder  of  that  here  represented.  Though  no  trace 
of  its  sculptures  remains,  this  and  another  relief  (now  lost) 
enable  us  to  reconstruct  the  crowded  group  of  pediment 
statues.  The  three  divinities  to  whom  the  temple  was 
dedicated — Jupiter,  Juno,  and  Minerva— were  represented 
in  the  centre,  with  other  gods,  and  the  chariots  of  sun  and 
moon  to  L.  and  R.  Beside  the  moon's  car  was  the  forge  of 
Vulcan,  balanced  by  a  similar  group  on  the  opposite  side. 
Reclining  figures  filled  each  angle  of  the  pediment.  The 
formal  symmetry  of  the  composition  was  borrowed  from 
Greek  practice  :  but  the  poverty  of  invention  of  the  Roman 
artist  is  shown  in  the  lack  of  a  dominating  idea  giving 
organic  unity  to  the  group,  such  as  we  find  e.g.  in  the 
Parthenon  pediments.  Notice  the  reliefs  in  the  mingling 
of  real  and  ideal  elements  which  characterises  Roman 
historical  art.  M.  Aurelius  in  his  triumphal  car  is  heralded 
by  a  human  trumpeter,  but  beside  him  walks  an  idealised 
youth  thought  by  some  to  typify  the  Genius  of  the  Roman 
people,  but  more  probably  representing  Honos,  a  divinity 
worshipped  by  the  army,  and  a  winged  Victory  hovers  over 
his  head.  The  scene  of  sacrifice  is  in  the  main  realistic. 
Notice  the  boy  acolyte  or  ca77iillus  with  long  curls,  the 
flute-player  and  the  attendant  girt  about  the  waist  who 
holds  the  sacrificial  axe  ;  but  behind  the  Emperor  stands  an 
elderly  figure,  obviously  ideal  in  type,  who  seems  to  repre- 
sent the  Senate.  Compare  with  this  the  fourth  relief  on 
this  landing,  where  the  head  of  the  Emperor  has  been  re- 
stored— wrongly — as  M.  Aurelius  in  order  to  correspond 
with  the  other  panels.  It  should  almost  certainly  be 
Hadrian,  whose  home-coming  to  Rome  (he  was  in  the  East 
at  the  time  of  his  accession)  is  here  symbolised.  The 
goddess  of  Rome  hands  him  the  globe  as  the  token  of 
universal  dominion,  and  the  ideal  figures  by  whom  he  is 
accompanied  (as  well  as  by  his  standard-bearers  and  lictors) 
seem  to  typify  Senate  and  People.  The  reliefs  in  the 
corridor  and  on  the  upper  landing  belong  to  the  same  style 


VII.]  THE  CAPITOL  135 

of  historical  art,  and  in  all  probability  to  the  reign  of 
Hadrian  (the  head  of  the  Emperor  is  largely  restored  in 
both).  In  the  first  we  see  Hadrian  delivering  an  oration, 
which  he  reads  from  a  scroll  to  the  assembled  people  ;  in 
the  second  the  deification  of  an  Empress  is  symbolically 
represented.  A  winged  female  figure — the  goddess  of 
Eternity — is  bearing  the  Empress  to  the  skies  from  the 
funeral  pyre,  beside  which  are  on  the  one  side  her  husband, 
on  the  other  a  youth  who  personifies  the  Campus  Martins, 
where  the  funeral  ceremony  took  place.  The  two  reliefs 
formed  at  one  time  part  of  the  decoration  of  an  arch  which 
formerly  spanned  the  Corso  near  to  S.  Lorenzo  in  Lucina, 
and  was  called  the  Arco  di  Portogallo  because  the  Portu- 
guese Embassy  was  close  by.  It  was  destroyed  in  1662, 
and  we  cannot  be  sure  that  it  was  really  (or  wholly)  an 
ancient  construction.  It  seems  more  likely  that  it  had  been 
decorated  with  fragments  of  ancient  sculpture  found  in  the 
Campus  Martins  ;  and  in  this  case  our  reliefs  may  have 
come  from  the  spot  where  the  ceremonial  cremation  of 
the  emperors  of  the  second  century  was  carried  out — the 
Ustriniiin  Anto7iinoruin^  as  it  was  called— which  was  under 
or  near  the  modern  Monte  Citorio.  The  Empress,  then,  will 
be  Sabina,  the  wife  of  Hadrian,  who  died  in  A  D.  136,  and  the 
speech  delivered  by  the  Emperor  her  funeral  oration. 

The  door  which  faces  us  as  we  enter  the  corridor  leads 
into  the  Halls  of  the  Conservators,  chiefly  notable  for  their 
modern  frescoes,  but  containing  also  a  few  ancient  busts 
and  other  works.  Note  in  the  first  room  two  large  marble 
vases  with  reliefs,  of  the  kind  produced  under  the  Early 
Empire  for  the  decoration  of  gardens  and  parks  by  the 
"  Neo-Attic  "  school,  already  mentioned. 

In  the  second  hall  is  the  famous  Bronze  Wolf,  which 
was  preserved  throughout  the  Middle  Ages  in  the  Lateran, 
but  presented  to  the  Conservators  by  Sixtus  IV.  At  some 
time  in  the  sixteenth  century  the  twins  were  added  :  the 
story  that  they  were  the  work  of  Guglielmo  della  Porta  is 
improbable.  We  read  of  a  similar  statue  set  up  by  the 
asdiles   of  295   B.C.,  beside   the    Ficus  Ruminalis,  beneath 


136  THE  CAPITOL  [vii. 

which,  according  to  legend,  Romukis  and  Remus  were 
suckled  ;  but  the  CapitoHne  wolf  is  far  too  archaic  in  style 
to  have  been  executed  at  so  late  a  date.  Cicero  mentions, 
however,  another  wolf,  dedicated  on  the  Capitol  and  struck 
by  lightning  in  65  B.C.  Traces  of  damage  which  might 
have  been  so  caused  may  be  seen  on  the  hind  legs  of  the 
animal,  and  there  can  be  little  doubt  that  the  two  are  to  be 
identified.  This  leaves  the  date  of  the  original  an  open 
question,  and  the  style  of  the  work  seems  to  point  to  Early 
Ionic  art  of  the  sixth  century  B.C.  If  we  could  be  sure 
that  the  twins  were  originally  represented,  we  should  have 
in  it  the  earliest  evidence  for  the  legend  of  the  foundation 
of  Rome. 

In  one  of  the  halls  at  the  further  end  of  the  building  are 
the  fragments  of  the  Fasti  Consulares  and  Fasti  trimn- 
phales,  giving  the  lists  of  the  consuls  of  the  Republic  and 
of  all  the  generals  who  had  celebrated  a  triumph,  which 
once  adorned  the  walls  of  the  Regia  (p.  74), 

Turning  to  the  L.  at  the  first  opening  in  the  corridor  we 
enter  the  three  rooms  of  the  "  Fasti  Moderni,"  or  lists  of 
Roman  magistrates.  In  these  are  a  number  of  partrait- 
busts,  both  Greek  and  Roman.  The  most  interesting  is 
that  in  the  middle  of  the  L.  wall  in  the  first  room,  which 
has  the  inscription  **Anacreon"  in  Greek  characters. 
The  pose  of  the  head  shows  that  the  original  was  not  a 
bust,  but  a  statue ;  and  we  possess  a  copy  of  this  statue, 
now  in  Copenhagen.  The  poet  of  love  and  wine  was 
represented  singing  to  the  lyre  (notice  the  slightly  parted 
lips) ;  and  the  style  of  the  statue  shows  it  to  be  a 
creation  of  fifth-century  art — one  of  the  earliest  of  Greek 
portraits.  The  first  portrait  on  the  L.  is  that  of  a 
Roman  of  the  late  Republic,  who  has  been  identified 
without  reason  as  C.  Domitius  Ahenobarbus,  the  grand- 
father of  Nero.  In  the  third  room  on  the  l,.  is  a  female 
portrait  wearing  a  turban  decorated  with  strings  of  precious 
stones.  The  pupils  of  the  eyes  are  rendered  by  deep  drill- 
holes, once,  no  doubt,  filled  with  glass  or  paste.  Though 
the  face  is  not  without  expression,  it  clearly  belongs  to  a 


VII.]  THE   CAPITOL  I37 

period  when  the  naturalism  of  ancient  art  was  extinct,  prob- 
ably to  the  fifth  or  sixth  century  a.d.  From  a  comparison 
with  similar  portraits  on  ivory  plaques  of  that  period,  it  has 
been  identified  either  with  the  Byzantine  Empress  Ariadne, 
wife  of  Zeno  (a.d.  476-91),  and  afterwards  of  his  successor 
Anastasius  I  (a.d.  491-518),  who  owed  his  advancement  to 
her  favour,  or  else  with  the  Gothic  Queen  Amalasuntha, 
daughter  of  Theodoric,  who  assumed  the  reins  of  power  on 


\ 

Fasn 
Consubrei 

'0_ 

0 
■»^ 

to 

c 

/^ — ^ 

/ 

Odrden 

1 

1 

Courtyard 

5: 

Corridor 

I       1 
Fasri  Modernl 

/il 

I  1  « 

1  i 

1 

— 1 ^^ 

Tombs 
Archaic 

1 

5  ra  incase 

PALAZZO    DEI  CONSERVATORI 
(FIRST  FLOOR.) 


his  death  in  A.D.  526  as  regent  for  her  son  Athalaric,  and 
was  afterwards  exiled  and  put  to  death  by  his  successor 
Theodahad.  Note  also  the  bust  of  a  boy  wearing  a  closely 
fitting  cap,  which  marks  him  as  a  driver  in  chariot-races 
(cf.  p.  218),  and  another  of  a  youth  whose  features  are 
clearly  of  African  type  (thick  nose,  prominent  lips,  and 
high  cheek-bones). 

In  the  second  room,  on  the  R.,  is  an  altar  which  illustrates 
Augustus'  reorganisation  of  the  city  of  Rome.  There  was 
an  ancient  worship  of  the  Lares — gods  of  the  land  and 


13^  THE  CAPITOL  [vn. 

house  by  origin— in  the  vici  or  "  wards"  of  the  city,  which 
had  fallen  into  neglect.  When  Augustus  divided  Rome 
into  fourteen  regions,  he  revived  this  worship,  but  with  a 
significant  change.  The  Lares  were  now  called  Lares 
Augusti^  and  there  was  coupled  with  them  the  "Genius"  of 
the  Emperor.  The  ceremonies  of  this  cult  were  placed  in 
charge  of  the  Vicoinagistri  or  "  presidents  of  the  ward,"  and 
this  petty  dignity  attracted  the  members  of  the  city  piebs 
and  confirmed  their  devotion  to  the  Government.  On  the 
front  of  our  altar — set  up  by  a  body  of  such  vicoinagistri  in 
A.D.  2 — we  see  the  sacrifice  of  a  pig  to  the  Lares  (compare 
the  scene  on  the  triumphal  relief  of  M.  Aurelius  described 
above)  ;  on  either  side  is  a  Lar,  represented  as  a  statue  on 
its  base,  bearing  a  laurel  branch,  and  on  the  back  are  the 
remains  of  an  oak  wreath — the  "  civic  crown  "  conferred  by 
the  Roman  people  on  Augustus. 

Having  passed  through  the  three  rooms,  we  come  to  a 
corridor  with  rooms  to  R.  and  l,.  On  the  R.  is  a  group  in 
the  style  of  Pergamene  art  which  represented  a  combat 
between  a  snake-footed  giant  and  two  Satyrs.  The  first 
opening  on  the  R.  leads  into  the  Sala  degli  orti  Lamiani 
or  "  Hall  of  the  Park  of  Lamia."  We  know  that  a  certain 
^lius  Lamia — perhaps  the  aristocratic  friend  of  Horace 
addressed  in  three  of  his  Odes — had  once  possessed  a  park 
on  the  Esquiline  adjoining  that  of  Maecenas,  in  which  the 
body  of  Caligula  was  secretly  burnt  and  buried  ;  and  it  has 
been  supposed  that  the  Villa  Palombara,  pulled  down  in 
order  to  build  the  new  streets  to  the  S.  of  Piazza  Vittorio 
Emanuele,  occupied  its  site.  Important  finds  of  sculpture — 
including  the  famous  Massimi  discobolus  (see  p.  219) — have 
been  made  from  time  to  time  in  this  region  ;  and  the 
antiques  collected  in  this  room  at  least  give  a  vivid  impres- 
sion of  the  crowd  of  marbles  with  which  the  parks  of 
Roman  nobles  and  emperors  were  peopled,  and  also  of  the 
eclectic  taste  which  put  works  of  all  periods  of  art  side  by 
side.  By  the  R.  wall,  for  example,  we  see  (36)  the  head  of 
a  Centaur  which  is  worthy  of  comparison  with  that  of  the 
Centaur  in  the  Capitoline  Museum,  but  may  belong  to  the 


VII.]  The  CAPITOL  139 

Pergamene  rather  than  to  the  Rhodian  school,  and  beside 
it  (42)  a  bust  of  Heracles  derived  from  an  original  of 
Scopas,  known  to  us  from  a  fine  statue  in  Lansdowne 
House.  At  the  end  of  the  room  on  this  side  are  two 
statues  of  girls  (one  wrongly  restored  as  a  Muse  with  a 
lyre)  which  belong  to  the  Praxitelean  school — or  rather, 
perhaps,  to  that  which  drew  inspiration  from  his  models 
and  reproduced  them  with  many  variations  in  the  early 
Hellenistic  age.  Facing  the  door  is  a  half-length  figure  of 
the  Emperor  Commodus,  the  unworthy  son  and  successor 
of  M.  AureHus,  with  the  attributes  of  Hercules — the  form 
under  which  he  delighted  to  receive  adoration.  It  is  well 
worthy  of  study  as  one  of  the  finest  examples  of  the  new 
style  in  sculpture  which  dates  from  the  Antonine  period 
(cf.  p.  38)  :  note  the  contrast  between  the  highly  polished 
surface  of  the  face  and  the  deeply  drilled  hair  and  beard 
with  their  chiaroscuro  of  light  and  shadow.  The  pedestal 
was  hidden  by  kneeling  figures  of  Amazons  supporting  a 
shield,  beneath  which  is  a  celestial  globe.  We  are  reminded 
that  Commodus  bore  the  name  Amazonius^  and  gave  it  to 
the  month  of  December  in  the  year  whose  months  were 
renamed  after  his  titles.  Beside  the  figure  are  placed  two 
Tritons,  obviously  composed  as  pendants.  It  is  by  no 
means  certain  that  they  were  originally  grouped  with  the 
statue.  In  the  middle  of  the  hall  is  a  nude  female  statue 
commonly  known  as  the  Venus  of  the  Esquiline.  The 
meaning  of  the  figure  is  determined  by  the  vase  adorned 
with  a  serpent  and  the  box  of  flowers  at  its  side  ;  these 
indicate  that  the  girl  is  a  priestess  or  at  least  a  worshipper 
of  I  sis.  But  the  style  of  the  figure,  especially  of  the  head, 
point  to  fifth-century  Greek  art,  and  the  sculptor  clearly 
belonged  to  the  archaising  school  of  the  Late  Republic  and 
Early  Empire  which  harked  back  to  Greek — especially 
Peloponnesian— models.  The  question  must  still  be  asked  : 
What  was  the  significance  of  the  original  1  It  has  been  con- 
jectured that  the  subject  was  mythological :  Atalanta  was 
portrayed  in  the  moment  when,  after  bathing  and  anointing 
herself,  she  tied  up  her  hair  before  starting  on  her  famous 


I40  THE   CAPITOL  [vii. 

race.  It  may  be,  however,  that  a  mortal  athlete— like  the 
girl-racer  of  the  Galleria  dei  Candelabri  (p.  t^TiJ) — was  re- 
presented. Apart  from  the  symbols  of  I  sis  worship,  the 
late  date  of  the  work  is  made  clear  by  the  naturalistic 
modelling  of  the  lower  part  of  the  body,  which  is  out  of 
keeping  with  the  archaic  severity  of  the  head  and  chest. 
Of  the  statues  on  the  L.  wall  the  most  interesting  are  those 
which  illustrate  Hellenistic  ,^^^-^r^-sculpture  —  the  shep- 
herdess carrying  a  lamb  (head  restored),  the  old  fisher- 
man, and  the  boy  aiming  a  nut  at  a  pyramid  of  four  nuts 
on  the  ground.  Beside  the  door  is  the  tombstone  of  the 
infant  prodigy,  Q.  Sulpicius  Maximus,  who,  as  the  inscrip- 
tion records,  was  successful  in  a  competition  for  extemporisa- 
tion in  Greek  verse  founded  by  Domitian,  and  died  of  over- 
work at  the  age  of  eleven  and  a  half!  His  poem — which 
deals  with  the  wrath  of  Zeus  against  Apollo  for  lending  his 
chariot  to  I'haethon — is  inscribed  on  the  sides  of  the  niche 
in  which  stands  the  figure  of  the  child,  who  probably  held 
his  stilus  in  the  hand  which  has  been  broken  off.  This 
interesting  monument  was  not  found  in  the  "Gardens  of 
Lamia,"  but  had  been  built  into  the  wall  of  Aurelian  near 
the  Porta  Salara  (p.  358). 

By  the  L.  wall  of  the  corridor  we  see  a  headless  statue  of 
Apollo  holding  a  lyre  and  wearing  the  flowing  robes  of  a 
citharcedtcs.  The  style  of  the  drapery  is  that  of  the  school 
of  Phidias.  Beyond  are  two  colossal  statues  of  Roman 
magistrates,  one  elderly  and  one  youthful — they  may  have 
been  father  and  son,  as  they  were  discovered  together — 
belonging  to  the  fourth  century  A.D.  and  affording  an 
admirable  illustration  of  the  stiff  conventional  art  of  that 
period,  as  well  as  of  the  costume  of  the  time.  Each  of 
them  holds  in  his  uplifted  hand  the  mappa  or  handker- 
chief which  was  dropped  as  a  signal  for  the  starting  of  the 
chariot  races  in  the  circus,  and  is  clad  in  the  full  dress 
proper  to  such  an  occasion-  a  close-fitting  sleeved  tunic,  a 
"  dalmatic  "  or  upper  tunic  with  shorter  and  looser  sleeves, 
and  an  embroidered  toga ;  he  also  wears  the  high  boots  of 
the  senator.     Notice  also  a  female  statue  of  severe  fifth- 


VH.]  THE   CAPITOL  141 

century  style  reconstructed  from  many  fragments  :  two 
runners  about  to  start  in  almost  identical  attitudes,  from 
bronze  originals  of  the  early  fourth  century  B.C.  ;  a  relief  in 
the  so-called  "Hellenistic"  style  with  landscape  and  build- 
ings, and  at  the  end  of  the  corridor  a  large  sarcophagus 
decorated  with  a  representation  of  the  Hunt  of  the  Caly- 
donian  Boar — a  subject  often  found  on  sarcophagi,  chosen, 
perhaps,  on  account  of  the  early  death  of  Meleager,  the 
hero  of  the  scene.  Note  that  the  faces  of  the  husband  and 
wife  whose  figures  adorn  the  lid  of  the  sarcophagus  are 
only  blocked  out.  The  makers  of  sarcophagi  kept  numbers 
of  them  in  stock,  and  only  executed  portraits  to  order  if  they 
were  required. 

By  the  R.  wall  observe  a  small  slab  with  a  representation 
of  stage-buildings  in  relief,  and  the  tombstone  of  a  shoe- 
maker, C.  Julius  Helius.  In  a  niche  is  the  bust  of  Helius, 
a  bald-headed,  elderly  man,  portrayed  with  ruthless  realism 
— an  admirable  character  sketch  of  a  shrewd,  close-fisted 
tradesman.  Two  lasts  are  carved  on  the  pediment  above 
the  niche.     The  date  is  about  A.D.  100. 

Here  we  pass  into  the  Garden,  which  contains  statues  of 
minor  importance  :  notice,  however,  the  group  of  a  lion 
devouring  a  horse  by  one  of  the  fountains,  which  stood 
in  the  Capitol  Piazza  during  the  Middle  Ages  (p.  102),  and 
was  admired  by  Michelangelo.  On  the  far  wall  of  the 
garden  are  arranged  the  fragments  of  the  Marble  Plan  of 
Rome  once  attached  to  the  fagade  of  the  building  now 
converted  into  the  church  of  SS.  Cosma  e  Damiano.  Most 
of  these  fragments  were  discovered  in  the  sixteenth  century, 
and  several  have  been  lost.  The  remainder,  together 
with  some  found  in  recent  years,  have  been  arranged  as 
far  as  possible  in  their  proper  positions  and  the  main 
outlines  of  the  missing  portion  filled  in.  The  orientation 
customary  in  modern  plans  is  reversed,  and  the  top  repre- 
sents the  south,  the  scale  being  about  ^i^o-  The  plan  in  its 
present  form  was  engraved  under  Septimius  Severus,  as  we 
see  from  the  inscription  Severi  et  Ajtto7zini  Augg.  nn.  (i.e. 
Augustoruvi  7iostrorum)  on  the  fragment  which  shows  the 


142  THE   CAPITOL  [vii. 

Clivus  Victoria;;  but  this  was  only  a  restoration,  made 
necessary  by  the  great  fire  at  the  close  of  Commodus'  reign, 
of  the  plan  originally  traced  in  the  reign  of  Vespasian,  who 
caused  a  fresh  survey  of  the  city  to  be  made. 

From  the  garden  we  return  through  the  corridor  to  the 
rooms  opening  on  to  it  on  the  further  side.  The  farthest  from 
the  entrance  is  the  Sala  degli  orti  Mecenaziani,  or  "  hall 
of  the  park  of  Maecenas,"  which  contains  the  statues  found 
in  that  part  of  the  Esquiline  where  the  gardens  of  Moecenas 
(p.  221)  are  believed  to  have  been  situated.  In  the  L.  corner 
is  a  colossal  head  said  to  have  been  found  between  Narni 
and  Todi,  and  identified  as  Mrecenas  from  its  likeness  to 
two  ancient  gems,  signed  by  the  artists  Dioscurides  and 
Solon.  One  if  not  both  of  these  seem  to  be  modern  ;  but 
a  genuine  example  was  extant  in  the  seventeenth  century. 
It  is,  however,  a  pure  conjecture  that  they  represent 
Mciecenas  ;  and  it  has  been  suspected  that  this  head  is  a 
modern  work  based  on  the  gem  of  Dioscurides.  Few  ancient 
heads  are  in  such  a  perfect  state  of  preservation. 

To  the  R.  of  the  door  is  a  beautiful  relief  representing 
a  dancing  Masnad,  brandishing  a  knife  in  her  uplifted  R. 
hand  and  half  of  a  fawn  in  her  L.  She  belongs  to  a  group 
of  figures  which  pictured  the  rout  of  Bacchus  in  a  series  of 
flowing  curves  of  the  utmost  grace.  The  consummate  skill 
with  which  the  limbs  of  the  Mienads  are  shown  beneath 
the  almost  transparent  drapery  was  one  of  the  most  remark- 
able attainments  of  Attic  sculptors  in  the  latter  part  of  the 
fifth  century  B.C.  to  which  the  originals  belonged.  Those 
who  have  visited  Athens  will  recall  the  wonderful  fragments 
of  the  balustrade  which  enclosed  the  precinct  of  Athena 
Nike  ("  Wingless  Victory  '0- 

By  the  R.  wall  is  a  youthful  figure  wrongly  restored  with 
a  lyre.  It  should  be  compared  with  the  Eros  of  Centocelle 
in  the  Vatican  (see  p.  289).  Passing  by  a  powerfully  built 
warrior  in  violent  action — probably  to  be  restored  as 
Heracles  with  club  in  the  R.  hand — we  come  to  a  fine 
example  of  the  head  of  that  Amazon  which  we  have  attri- 
buted to  Cresilas  (see  p.  12.3)  ;  the  restraint  and  severity  of 


VII.]  THE   CAPITOL  143 

fifth-century  art  enhances  the  pathos  of  the  expression. 
The  most  interesting  statue  on  the  opposite  side  of  the 
room  is  that  of  Marsyas  in  pavoiiazzetto.  The  legend 
which  it  illustrates  gave  imaginative  form  to  the  preference 
of  the  Greeks  for  their  national  instrument— the  lyre — as 
compared  with  the  Phrygian  flute.  Athena,  it  was  said, 
invented  the  flute,  but  when  she  saw  the  reflection  of  her 
distended  cheeks  as  she  played  it,  flung  it  away  and 
solemnly  cursed  it.  The  Satyr  Marsyas  picked  it  up, 
mastered  its  music,  and  challenged  Apollo,  the  divine  lyre- 
player,  to  a  contest.  The  Muses  awarded  the  prize  to  the 
God,  who  caused  Marsyas  to  be  flayed  alive.  The  first 
scene  in  this  drama  was  represented  in  a  famous  group  by 
Myron,  to  which  belonged  the  Marsyas  of  the  Lateran 
(p.  235)  ;  the  finale^  which  repelled  earlier  Greek  sculptors, 
was  triumphantly  rendered  by  Hellenistic  artists.  There 
is  a  group  of  statues  in  white  marble  which  represent 
Marsyas  bound,  but  without  the  refinements  in  the  indica^ 
tion  of  torture  which  we  here  see.  The  type  exemplified 
by  this  figure  and  others  in  pavonazzetto — chosen  in  order 
to  suggest  by  its  red  streaks  the  congestion  of  blood  in  the 
veins  of  the  tortured  Satyr — belonged  to  a  group  completed 
by  the  figures  of  a  slave  sharpening  his  knife  on  a  whet- 
stone, of  which  there  is  a  copy  in  Florence,  and  doubtless 
also  of  Apollo.  It  was  the  work  of  one  of  the  later  Hellen- 
istic schools  which  carried  the  study  of  anatomy  to  a  point 
hitherto  unattained  ;  we  can  see,  in  fact,  that  the  rendering 
of  anatomical  detail  was  the  chief  interest  of  the  sculptor. 

We  pass  through  the  door  to  the  L.  of  the  Marsyas  into 
the  Room  of  the  Bronzes,  which  contains  the  nucleus 
of  the  collection  originally  formed  under  Sixtus  IV.  The 
most  important  of  these  works  had,  it  seems,  been  pre- 
served in  the  Papal  palace  of  the  Lateran  during  the 
Middle  Ages  ;  they  are  amongst  the  few  ancient  statues 
which  have  never  been  buried  in  the  earth.  On  the  R. 
as  we  enter  is  a  remarkable  bronze  head,  which  commonly 
bears  the  name  of  L.  Junius  Brutus,  the  founder  of  the 
Roman  Republic,  which  has  been  given  to  it  on  account  of 


144  THE   CAPITOL  [vii. 

the  resemblance  of  its  profile  to  that  of  the  head  of  Brutus 
on  the  coins  struck  by  his  great  descendant,  the  murderer 
of  Caesar.  Whether  the  identification  be  accepted  or  not 
we  certainly  have  here  the  portrait  of  a  Roman  of  the 
Republic— not,  however,  the  work  of  a  Roman  artist,  but 
of  a  Greek,  for  with  all  its  hardness  of  feature  it  has  the 
touch  of  idealism  which  betrays  the  Hellenic  sculptor.  It 
is  not  of  course  a  contemporary  portrait  of  Brutus,  but  it 
may  have  been  an  ideal  representation  of  the  man  who 
gave  Rome  political  freedom,  and  set  in  the  execution  of 
his  sons  the  crowning  example  of  the  cardinal  virtue  of  the 
Roman — the  sacrifice  of  individual  interests  and  passions  for 
the  good  of  the  State. 

On  the  opposite  side  of  the  room,  to  the  l..  of  the  door, 
is  a  graceful  statue  of  a  boy  clad  in  a  tunic  and  sandals, 
which  we  might  take  at  first  sight  for  a  Greek  work,  but 
which  really  represents  a  camillus  or  acolyte  such  as  we 
have  seen  in  attendance  at  public  sacrifices.  There  is  a 
singular  charm  in  the  simplicity  and  refinement  of  the 
youthful  figure,  which  should  be  restored  with  a  bowl  in  the 
R.  hand  and  a  pitcher  in  the  L.  ;  but  the  face  lacks  ex- 
pression, and  the  statue  reveals  itself  on  examination  as  the 
handiwork  of  the  "  classicizing  "  school  of  the  Late  Republic 
which  looked  to  fifth-century  Greece  for  inspiration.  In  the 
details,  however,  the  Roman  love  of  accuracy  shows  itself 
The  camilli  wore  the  pratexta^  i.e.  a  white  tunic  edged  with 
narrow  stripes  of  purple,  and  these  are  represented  by  an 
inlay  of  silver.  Notice,  too,  the  hems  of  the  sleeve-openings 
and  the  patterns  on  the  sandal-straps. 

Very  different  is  the  beautiful  statue  of  the  Boy  extract- 
ing a  thorn  from  his  foot  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  door. 
It  is  impossible  to  see  in  this  work  anything  but  a  Greek 
original  of  the  middle  of  the  fifth  century  B.C.  The  pose 
and  proportions  of  the  figure  show  a  wonderful  observation 
of  nature  ;  only  in  one  detail  do  we  notice  the  deliberate 
departure  from  actuality  which  the  Greeks  never  shunned 
if  it  seemed  to  them  to  be  demanded  by  artistic  necessity. 
The  long,  curling  hair  would  of  course  naturally  fall  over 


VII.]  THE   CAPITOL  145 

the  cheeks  and  hide  the  childish  face,  with  its  intent  gaze, 
which  the  artist  desired  to  represent.  It  is  interesting  to 
note  that  in  a  statuette  of  the  Hellenistic  age  now  in  the 
British  Museum  which  reproduces  the  motive  of  our  statue 
— evidently  one  of  the  famous  works  of  ancient  art — in  a 
form  modified  according  to  the  realistic  practice  of  that 
time,  the  boy  has  close,  curly  hair.  There  is  a  difficult 
question  as  to  the  meaning  of  the  statue.  The  Hellenistic 
figure  just  mentioned  is  without  doubt  just  such  a  bit  of 
genre  sculpture  as  was  dear  to  later  Greek  art — we  have 
seen  some  examples  already  in  the  Hall  of  the  Gardens  of 
Lamia.  But  pure  genre  was  unknown  in  the  fifth  century 
B.C. ;  and  two  explanations  of  the  motive  alone  seem  possible. 
Either  it  was  mythological ;  there  was  a  legend,  for 
example,  that  Locrus,  the  ancestor  of  the  Locrians  who 
lived  to  the  N.  of  the  Corinthian  Gulf,  had  founded  his  city 
on  the  spot  where,  as  an  oracle  foretold,  he  had  wounded 
his  foot  with  a  thorn  :  or  the  statue  was  votive,  and  had 
reference  to  an  incident  in  the  life  of  the  boy  represented — 
possibly  in  an  athletic  contest  in  which  he  came  off  victorious 
in  spite  of  the  injury. 

In  the  corner  of  the  room  is  a  colossal  bronze  head,  which 
has  been  variously  identified.  A  common  view  is  that 
it  represents  Nero  in  his  youth  ;  but  the  only  detail  which 
lends  any  colour  to  this  is  the  wavy  hair.  The  stiff  pose 
and  fixed  gaze  point  rather  to  the  Constantinian  period. 
Perhaps  one  of  the  sons  of  Constantine  may  be  the  subject. 
On  the  opposite  side  of  the  door  leading  into  the  corridor  is 
a  bronze  crater  ox  mixing-bowl,  chiefly  interesting  on  account 
of  its  inscription,  which  tells  us  that  it  was  presented  by 
Mithridates  Eupator — the  great  king  of  Pontus  who  defied 
so  long  and  so  successfully  the  armies  of  Rome  and  was  at 
last  conquered  by  Pompey — to  an  athletic  club.  The 
"Gymnasium"  named  in  the  inscription  may  perhaps  have 
been  at  Athens,  which  was  taken  and  sacked  by  Sulla  in 
86  B.C. 

Notice,  too,  the  fragmentary  figures  of  a  bull  and  a  horse, 
this  latter  a  fine  piece  of  Greek  work  ;  also  a  couch  and 


146  THE  CAPITOL  [vii. 

litter,  restored  (in  part  wrongly)  with  a  modern  wooden 
framework  upon  which  the  ancient  fragments  of  bronze, 
inlaid  with  copper  and  silver,  have  been  fastened. 

The  next  room  contains  a  collection  of  vases,  terra-cottas, 
and  bronze  objects  which  illustrate  the  importation  of  Greek 
fabrics  into  Italy  and  their  imitation  by  the  Etruscans. 
From  this  we  pass  back  to  the  corridor.  To  the  R.  are  door- 
ways leading  to  rooms  in  one  of  which  is  preserved  a 
tensa^  or  ceremonial  chariot  in  which  the  images  of  gods 
were  carried  in  the  solemn  possession  which  took  place 
before  the  celebration  of  the  games  in  the  circus.  The 
ancient  bronze  plates  decorated  with  scenes  from  the  story 
of  Achilles,  together  with  others  of  Dionysiac  import.  The 
plaques  were  pressed  in  moulds,  and  the  same  scene  is 
repeated  many  times.  The  wooden  framework  is  modern. 
Next  is  a  room  whose  floor  is  partly  made  of  blocks  belonging 
to  the  enclosing  wall  of  the  Area  Capitolina^  or  platform 
upon  which  the  temple  of  Jupiter  stood  (p.  loi).  Besides 
architectural  fragments,  the  room  contains  two  Sarcophagi 
containing  skeletons,  found  in  digging  the  foundations  of 
the  new  Law  Courts  in  the  Prati  di  Castello.  They  were 
those  of  a  certain  Gaius  Crepereius  Euhodus,  and  of  a  girl, 
Crepereia  Tryphasna,  perhaps  his  daughter.  The  skeleton 
of  this  latter  is  adorned  with  a  golden  wreath  and  other 
jewellery,  such  as  a  ring  inscribed  with  the  name  Filetus. 
With  her  was  buried  a  doll,  also  wearing  a  ring.  The  style 
in  which  the  hair  of  this  doll  is  dressed  and  the  lettering  of 
the  inscriptions  show  that  Crepereia  lived  in  the  second 
century  a.d.  On  the  L.  wall  of  the  entrance  to  this  room 
is  a  curious  fragment  of  fresco  painting  found  in  a  tomb  on 
the  Esquiline.  The  scenes  are  arranged  in  narrow  bands, 
and  seen  to  illustrate  episodes  in  the  Samnite  wars.  We  see 
a  parley  held  between  two  generals  outside  the  walls  of 
a  besieged  city,  another  meeting  between  two  commanders 
with  their  armies  and  a  battle  scene.  It  has  been  thought 
that  these  may  be  copied  from,  or  at  least  reproduce  the 
style  of,  the  wall  paintings  of  Fabius  Pictor,  one  of  the  earliest 
of  Roman  artists,  in  the  temple  of  Salus  buijt  in  302  B.C. 


VII.]  THE   CAPITOL  i47 

The  last  room  to  the  R.  contains  Archaic  sculptures 
which  are  interesting  to  those  who  would  study  the  develop- 
ment of  early  Greek  sculpture.  The  finest  of  these  works 
is  the  young  charioteer  copied  from  a  bronze  group  set  up 
at  Olympia  or  Delphi  to  commemorate  a  victory  in  the 
chariot-race,  and  dating  from  the  period  just  after  the 
Persian  wars.  Notice  the  long  robe  worn  by  Greek  drivers. 
Early  female  statues,  with  their  elaborate  yet  conventional 
drapery,  are  exemplified  in  the  torsos  on  the  R.  near  the 
window,  and  the  figure  of  Nike  (Victory)  to  the  L.  There 
are  also  grave-reliefs  of  the  archaic  period  (notably  one 
which  represents  a  girl  holding  a  dove)  and  a  kneeling 
figure  interpreted  as  that  of  an  Amazon  stringing  her  bow. 
On  the  R.  is  an  interesting  statuette  belonging  to  the  middle 
of  the  fifth  century  :  a  woman  is  represented  in  flight 
carrying  a  child  on  each  arm  (one  lost).  This  was  Leto 
with  her  children  Apollo  and  Artemis,  flying  from  the 
Python.  The  original  was  dedicated  in  the  temple  of 
Artemis  at  Ephesus.  Notice  also  the  colossal  foot  by  the 
window,  wearing  a  sandal  decorated  with  Tritons  and 
Erotes. 

We  now  return  to  the  staircase  and  ascend  to  the  upper 
floor,  noticing  on  the  R.  a  curious  relief  dedicated  to  the 
Palmyrene  divinities  Agfibolos  and  Malachbelos,  dated 
by  its  inscription  to  the  year  235-6  a.d.  They  are  repre- 
sented as  youths  clasping  hands,  the  one  arrayed  in  Greek 
armour,  the  other  wearing  Oriental  costume.  In  the  back- 
ground is  the  sacred  cypress  which  we  saw  on  the  Altar  of 
the  Sun  in  the  Capitoline  Museum. 

In  a  niche  to  L.  on  the  upper  landing  is  a  fine  female 
figure  restored  as  "Roma."  The  head  was  that  of  an 
early  Athena  ;  but  it  does  not  belong  to  the  body,  which  is 
shown  by  a  comparison  with  better  preserved  copies  to 
have  represented  Persephone,  holding  poppies  and  ears  of 
corn  in  her  R.  hand  and  a  torch  in  her  L.  The  relief  with 
the  apotheosis  of  Sabina  has  already  been  described. 
There  are  also  two  mosaics  in  coloured  marble  slabs  (called 
by  the  Romans  opus  sectile)  which  represent  oxen  torn  by 


148  THE   CAPITOL  [vii. 

beasts  of  prey.  These  are  by  far  the  most  important 
examples  of  this  kind  of  work  preserved  to  us  from  antiquity. 
They  belonged  to  the  basilica,  or  public  hall,  built  on  the 
Esquiline  (near  S.  Maria  Maggiore)  by  Junius  Bassus,^ 
consul  in  a.d.  317,  and  afterwards  converted  into  a  church 
of  S.  Andrew. 

From  this  landing  we  enter  the  Upper  Corridor,  near 
the  entrance  of  which  are  several  mosaics.  The  most 
interesting  (though  not  for  resthetic  reasons)  is  one  with  the 
curious  symbol  of  an  eye  pierced  by  a  spear  and  surrounded 
by  beasts  and  birds.  The  inscription  shows  that  it  belonged 
to  the  entrance  of  a  building  on  the  Caslian  called  the 
Basilica  Hilaria7ia^  which  was  probably  a  chapel  dedicated 
to  some  mystical  cult.  From  such  private  chapels  the 
name  basilica  passed  into  its  Christian  use. 

In  the  remainder  of  the  corridor  are  cases  containing  terra- 
cottas, etc.  (on  the  L.)  and  bronzes  on  the  R.  Amongst 
the  former  are  several  of  the  plaques  with  designs  repeated 
from  moulds  which  we  shall  see  in  other  museums  used  as 
architectural  decorations— e  g.  for  the  cornices  of  walls — 
especially  at  the  close  of  the  Republican  period  (see  p.  179). 
In  the  case  beyond  the  second  door  on  the  L.  are  modelled 
and  painted  terra-cottas  of  early  date  used  for  decorating 
the  pediments  and  gutters  of  temples.  The  Romans  learnt 
the  use  of  these  from  the  Etruscans  (cf  p.  353),  and  one  of 
these — in  the  form  of  a  female  head — which  was  found  in 
the  cloister  of  S.  Maria  in  AraceH,  must  have  belonged  to 
one  of  the  earliest  temples  on  the  Capitol.  Amongst  the 
statuettes  in  the  next  case  will  be  noticed  a  small  alabaster 
bust  with  a  female  head  of  coloured  glass  (flesh  pink, 
painted  yellow,  hair  black)  with  eyes  inserted  in  silver. 
Further  on  are  fragments  of  a  pediment  group  in  terra- 
cotta, perhaps  of  the  second  century  B.C.  Amongst  the 
bronzes  on  the  R.  notice  a  statuette  of  a  Lar,  like  those 
represented  on  the  altar  described  above  (p.  137).  In  the 
further  case  are  objects  from  the  early  cemeteries  on  the 
heights  of  the  Quirinal  and  Esquiline  ;  and  at  the  end  of 
^  Jiis  sarcophagus  may  be  seen  in  the  crypt  of  St.  Peter's. 


VII.]  THE  CAPITOL  149 

the   corridor  is   a   colossal   statue  of   Heracles   in  gilt 

bronze,  which  was  found  in  the  Forum  Boarium  in  the 
fifteenth  century,  when  the  remains  of  the  Ara  Maxima 
were  destroyed.  In  his  R.  hand  he  holds  the  apples  of  the 
Hesperides  ;  the  club  in  the  L.  rested  on  a  support,  pro- 
bably a  mass  of  rock.  The  workmanship  is  poor  and  of 
relatively  late  date,  but  the  type  is  no  doubt  derived  from 
the  school  of  Lysippus.  [For  the  picture-gallery  in  the 
rooms  to  the  L.  see  Christian  Roine^  p.  345.] 

On  leaving  the  museum,  we  may  either  ascend  by  the 
steps  on  the  R.  which  lead  through  a  sixteenth-century 
portico  to  the  Via  di  Monte  Tarpeo,  in  which  is  the  German 
Archaeological  Institute  (r.)  and  (l)  the  Casa  Tarpea,  from 
the  garden  of  which  there  is  a  view  of  the  sheer  cliff  which 
has  been  identified  with  the  Tarpean  rock  whence  criminals 
were  hurled  ;  or  we  may  take  the  narrow  street  leading 
downwards  to  the  Forum,  in  which  is  the  entrance  to  the 
Tabularium  or  Public  Record  Office  mentioned  on  p.  47. 
We  pass  through  a  flat  arch,  the  space  under  which  may 
have  been  used  as  a  sentry-box  by  the  guard  of  the  Capitol. 
Turning  to  the  R.  we  find  ourselves  in  the  long  gallery 
which  overlooked  the  Forum.  All  the  arches  save  one  of 
the  Doric  arcade  are  now  blocked,  and  the  gallery  is  used 
as  a  museum  for  architectural  fragments  from  the  temples 
below  it.  The  most  remarkable  of  these  are  (at  the  further 
end)  the  cornice  of  the  temple  of  Concord,  with  its  charac- 
teristic wealth  of  ornament,  almost  every  member  being 
enriched  with  foHage,  egg-and-dart  mouldings,  and  other 
decorative  motives,  and  the  cornice  and  frieze  of  the 
temple  of  Vespasian,  which  is  even  more  ornate.  Notice 
the  ox-skulls,  sacrificial  emblems  (jug,  bowl,  axe,  knife,  and 
sprinkler),  and  priest's  cap  with  apex  (p.  217)  and  cheek- 
straps  carved  in  relief  on  this  frieze.  The  eleven  bays  of 
the  gallery  were  roofed  with  concrete  vaulting,  and  some 
of  them  opened  on  to  small  square  chambers  at  the  back. 
Originally,  no  doubt,  the  gallery  was  open  at  both  ends  and 
formed  a  covered  way  for  foot-passengers  ;  but  the  north- 
eastern  end  was   blocked  when  the  mediaeval  tower  was 


I50  THE  CAPITOL  [vii. 

built  at  that  corner.  At  the  back  of  the  gallery  was  a  mas- 
sive substructure  in  which  were  vaulted  chambers.  The 
modern  staircase  at  the  N.E.  end  of  the  gallery  leads 
(through  an  aperture  in  the  wall)  into  one  of  these  chambers, 
from  which  a  staircase  led  down  to  a  lower  passage  running 
beneath  the  gallery,  with  deep  embrasures  and  windows 
overlooking  the  Forum,  except  at  the  north-eastern  end, 
where  they  would  have  been  blocked  by  the  older  Temple 
of  Concord.  The  modern  staircase  leads  up  to  the  tower 
of  the  Palazzo  del  Senatore  which  commands  the  view  of 
Rome  mentioned  on  p.  5.  It  is  not  clear  how  the  upper 
part  of  the  ancient  Tabularium  was  planned.  Above  the 
gallery  was  an  upper  story  with  an  order  of  Corinthian 
columns.  Some  fragments  of  these  may  be  seen  in  front 
of  the  Portico  of  the  Twelve  Gods  (p.  49).  At  the  back 
there  was  no  doubt  a  court  which  opened  on  to  the  space 
which  is  now  the  Piazza  del  Campidoglio.  This  was  ap- 
proached directly  from  the  Forum  by  a  staircase  of  which 
sixty-six  steps  are  still  in  existence.  The  doorway  was 
blocked  by  the  erection  of  the  Temple  of  Vespasian. 
There  was  also  a  series  of  rooms — probably  two  stories — 
which  opened  on  the  road  leading  up  to  the  Arx  on  the 
N.E.  (now  the  Via  dell'  Arco  di  Settimio  Severo).  In  one 
of  these  chambers,  engraved  on  the  flat  arch  of  a  doorway, 
are  the  remains  of  the  inscription  which  gives  the  name 
of  the  builder  of  the  Tabularium — Q.  Lutatius  Catulus, 
consul  in  78  B.C.  and  leader  of  the  Senatorial  party  after 
the  death  of  Sulla.  The  building  is  the  finest  extant  monu- 
ment of  Republican  architecture.  The  fagade,  which  must 
be  studied  from  the  Forum,  is  notable  for  its  regular  masonfy 
in  "  headers "  and  "  stretchers "  ;  the  interior  is  an  early 
example  of  concrete  vaulting,  and  also  illustrates  the  care 
with  which  Roman  builders  selected  their  materials  accord- 
ing to  their  destined  position  and  function — e.g.  tufa  for  the 
inner  walls,  travertine  for  arches,  staircases,  etc. 


!  [T 


VIII 

THE  IMPERIAL  FORA 

HE  increase  of  population  and  business  in  ancient 
Rome  made  the  Forum  Romanum  too  small  for  the 
needs  which  it  served.  New  law-courts,  exchanges,  and 
public  halls  became  a  necessity,  and  Julius  Caesar,  when  he 
rebuilt  the  Senate-house  and  changed  the  aspect  of  the 
northern  end  of  the  Forum,  planned  a  new  place  of  public 
resort  which  adjoined  it  on  the  N.W.  and  henceforth 
bore  the  name  of  Forum  Julium.  The  design  was  that  of 
a  piazza  surrounded  by  colonnades  and  offices,  and  contain- 
ing a  temple— that  of  Venus  Genetrix  ("  the  mother  ")  from 
whom  he  traced  descent  through  JEneas.  Other  emperors 
— Augustus,  Vespasian,  Domitian,  Nerva,  and  finally  Trajan, 
followed  his  example,  and  thus  the  whole  of  the  region  to 
the  N.  and  N.W.  of  the  Forum  was  turned  to  public  uses 
and  covered  with  monumental  buildings  and  temples, 
the  extant  remains  of  which  can  give  us  but  a  poor  idea 
of  their  departed  magnificence.] 

From  the  church  of  SS.  Martina  e  Luca  an  unsavoury 
thoroughfare  (partly  in  course  of  destruction)  leads  to  Piazza 
del  Foro  Trajano,  and  in  an  alley  to  the  R.  (the  Via  delle 
Marmorelle)  are  to  be  seen  (in  the  court  of  No.  29)  the 
remains  of  massive  double  arches  mainly  of  tufa  (with 
springers  and  keystones  of  travertine)  which  gave  access  to 
the  chambers  and  offices  enclosing  the  Forum  of  Julius 
Csesar.  Of  the  magnificent  temple  of  Venus  Genetrix  in 
the  centre  of  the  Forum  not  a  trace  now  remains,  but 
fragments  of  the  Corinthian  columns  and  frieze  were  dis- 

151 


152  THE  IMPERIAL  FOR  A  [viii. 

covered] in  the  sixteenth  century.  It  was  vowed  by  the 
Dictator  on  the  battlefield  of  Pharsalus  and  dedicated  after 
his  triumph  in  46  B.C.  In  front  of  the  temple  stood  an 
equestrian  statue  of  Caesar  and  a  fountain  with  statues  of 
nymphs. 

Augustus  built  a  third  Forum  to  the  N.  of  that  of  Julius, 
and  with  its  longer  axis  perpendicular  thereto.  If  we 
follow  the  Via  Bonella,  which,  as  explained  above,  passes 
between  the  Senate-house  and  the  offices  appertaining  to 
it,  and  cross  the  Via  Alessandrina,  we  shall  come  to  the 
only  portion  of  this  Forum  which  is  preserved.  On  the 
L.  are  the  three  columns  and  architrave  which  alone  remain 
of  the  peristyle  of  the  splendid  temple  of  Mars  Ultor, 
vowed  by  Augustus  on  the  battlefield  of  Philippi  and 
dedicated  in  2  B.C.  The  walls  of  the  temple  were  of 
peperino  with  marble  lining. 

This  temple  of  Mars  gave  to  the  Forum  of  Augustus  its 
distinctive  note.  In  it  were  deposited  the  eagles  and 
standards  recovered  from  the  Parthians  in  20  b c,  and 
ceremonies  such  as  the  leave-taking  of  generals  and  the 
granting  of  Imperial  triumphs  took  place  there.  Its  vaults 
contained  the  aerarium  militate  or  military  treasury.  The 
Forum  itself  was  to  be  the  "  national  Valhalla "  in  which 
the  heroes  of  Rome's  victorious  struggles  were  to  find  a 
place.  On  either  side  of  the  temple  the  enclosing  wall  of 
the  Forum  expanded  into  a  great  apse  with  niches  in  which 
were  placed  bronze  statues  of  all  the  Generals  of  the 
Republic  who  had  celebrated  a  triumph,  with  inscriptions 
(called  elogid)  giving  the  details  of  their  career.  The 
statues  are  irretrievably  lost,  but  many  of  the  inscriptions 
have  been  recovered  in  whole  or  part.  The  northern  half 
of  the  easternmost  apse,  with  its  empty  niches,  towers  on 
the  R.  of  the  Via  Bonella,  and  twenty  feet  below  the  street 
level  is  the  ancient  pavement  of  the  Forum,  which  became 
a  swamp  in  the  course  of  the  Middle  Ages,  so  that  the  new 
streets  built  in  the  sixteenth  century  had  to  be  raised  on 
high  foundations.  Tiberius  erected  triumphal  arches  on 
either  side  of  the  temple  of  Mars  in  honour  of  Drusus  and 


IL.         ,'           ' 

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I 


154  THE  IMPERIAL  FOR  A  [Vill. 

Germanicus,  but  no  trace  of  them  remains.  At  the  €nA  of 
the  Via  Bonella  we  pass  through  the  Arco  dei  Pantani  of 
"Arch  of  the  Swamps,"  greatly  reduced  in  height  by  the 
rise  in  the  street  level,  and  find  ourselves  in  the  Via  di  Tor 
dei  Conti.  The  first  thing  that  we  notice  is  the  irregular 
outline  of  the  wall  enclosing  the  Forum  which  we  have 
just  left :  the  arch  itself  is  placed  obliquely  to  the  axis  of 
the  Forum.  The  reason  of  this  is  that  Augustus,  with  his 
unfailing  tact  and  conciliatory  disposition,  refused  to  resort 
to  compulsory  expropriation  in  order  to  acquire  the  site  for 
his  Forum,  which  was  densely  populated,  and  preferred  to 
submit  to  a  want  of  symmetry  in  its  outline.  The  wall 
itself  is  a  magnificent  specimen  of  early  Imperial  masonry. 
It  is  built  with  two  varieties  of  volcanic  stone — the  lower 
part  of  the  hard  sperone  from  Gabii,  the  upper  of  the 
cheaper  and  less  durable  peperino  from  the  Alban  hills.  At 
intervals  of  fifteen  courses  there  is  a  projecting  course  of 
travertine,  which  is  also  used  for  the  voussoirs  of  the  Arco 
dei  Pantani.  The  original  height  of  the  wall  was  no  feet, 
of  which  86  are  now  above  ground. 

[In  A.D.  71  Vespasian  built  a  Temple  of  Peace  to  cele- 
brate the  conclusion  of  the  Jewish  war,  and  the  enclosed 
piazza  in  which  the  temple  stood  came  to  be  known  as  the 
Forum  of  Peace.  It  lay  to  the  N.E.  of  the  Forum  Roma- 
num,  and  all  that  can  be  seen  of  it  is  the  small  space  which  has 
been  cleared  at  the  back  of  SS.  Cosmae  Damiano  (cf  p.  78). 
The  Temple  and  Forum  of  Peace  became  a  veritable 
museum  of  works  of  art,  both  statuary  and  painting,  ruth- 
lessly plundered  by  Nero  to  adorn  his  Golden  House,  and 
thence  transferred  by  Vespasian  to  a  spot  where  they  could 
be  enjoyed  by  the  people  of  Rome.] 

Between  the  Forum  of  Augustus  and  that  of  Vespasian 
ran  the  main  thoroughfare  connecting  the  Forum  Romanum 
with  the  eastern  heights.  This  passed  between  the  Senate- 
house  and  the  Basilica  /Emilia,  and  was  known  at  first  as  the 
Argiletum  ;  it  led  into  the  crowded  and  busy  quarter  of  the 
Subura.  Here  Domitian  planned — though  he  did  not  live 
to  complete— a  Forum,  which,  like  those  of  his  predecessors, 


VIII.]  THE  IMPERIAL  FORA  155 

contained  a  sumptuous  temple.  This  was  dedicated  to 
Minerva,  a  goddess  whose  worship  was  especially  dear  to 
Domitian,  a  man  of  literary  tastes.  It  stood  at  the  northern 
end  of  his  Forum,  which  was  long  and  narrow,  and  has 
almost  completely  disappeared.  If,  however,  we  turn  to 
the  R.  from  the  Via  di  Tor  dei  Conti  into  the  Via  di  Croce 
bianca,  we  shall  see  at  the  intersection  of  this  street  with  the 
Via  Alessandrina  a  fragment  of  the  eastern  enclosing 
wall  of  the  Forum  with  two  columns  {Le  Colomtacce) 
belonging  to  the  colonade,  half  buried  in  the  ground.  The 
cornice  and  attic  of  the  wall  project  and  are  returned 
round  these  columns.  On  the  attic  is  a  figure  of  Minerva  in 
relief,  and  the  frieze  is  decorated  with  scenes  representing 
the  arts  of  peace — spinning,  weaving,  etc. — over  which  the 
goddess  presided.  This  Forum — often  called  the  Forum 
Tra7isitoriuin — was  completed  and  dedicated  after  the 
death  of  Domitian  by  Nerva,  whose  name  it  commonly  , 
bears. 

[The  depression  to  the  N.  of  the  Forum  Romanum  was 
now  filled  with  public  buildings  :  but  Trajan  was  deter- 
mined to  leave  an  enduring  memorial  of  his  reign  and  of  his 
victories,  and  commissioned  the  architect  Apollodorus 
of  Damascus  to  design  a  Forum  far  surpassing  in  extent 
and  magnificence  those  already  in  existence.  In  order  to 
obtain  a  site  for  it  the  saddle  which  connected  the  S.W. 
spur  of  the  Quirinal  with  the  Capitoline  hill  was  cut  away 
and  an  artificial  valley  formed  and  levelled.  The  design 
of  the  Forum  differed  from  the  type  erected  by  Julius 
Cassar  in  that  there  was  no  temple  in  the  principal  enclosure. 
This  was  a  great  square  enclosed  by  colonnades,  with 
hemicycles  projecting  to  N.  and  S.  It  was  entered  on  the 
side  towards  the  Forum  of  Augustus  by  a  magnificent 
triumphal  arch,  represented  on  the  coins  of  Trajan,  and  an 
equestrian  statue  of  the  Emperor  stood  in  the  centre.  The 
opposite  side  was  flanked  by  the  Basilica  Ulpia,  a  long 
rectangular  hall  with  apses  at  either  end  and  two  aisles 
(with  a  gallery  above)  on  either  side.  Beyond  the  basilica 
was  a  rectangular  court,  in  the  centre  of  which  stood  the 


156  THE  IMPERIAL  FORA  [viii. 

spiral  column  supporting  a  statue  of  Trajan  ;  to  the  N.  and 
S.  were  libraries  of  Greek  and  Latin  literature.] 

From  the  remains  of  the  Forum  of  Nerva  we  turn  to  the 
L.  along  the  Via  Alessandrina.  The  first  turning  to  the 
R.  is  the  Via  di  Campo  Carleo.  Here,  in  the  court  of  No.  6, 
are  to  be  seen  remains  of  the  northern  hemicycle  of  the 
Forum — a  row  of  chambers  or  shops  opening  on  to  a  road 
paved  in  the  usual  manner  with  blocks  of  lava.  An  upper 
story  and  traces  of  a  third  are  preserved.  The  fagade  is 
of  concrete  faced  with  neat  brickwork,  which  was  of  course 
stuccoed.  Some  parts  (door-frames,  capitals  of  pilasters, 
etc.)  were  of  travertine. 

This  is  all  that  can  be  seen  of  the  Forum  proper.  We  go 
on  to  the  Piazza  del  Foro  Trajano,  across  which  run  four 
rows  of  broken  shafts  of  grey  granite,  marking  the  position 
of  the  columns  which  divided  the  Basilica  Ulpia  into  a  nave 
and  four  aisles.  Only  the  central  portion  is  excavated.  The 
longer  axis  was  perpendicular  to  that  of  the  modern  piazza.  The 
shafts  do  not  belong  to  the  bases  upon  which  they  have  been 
placed, but  (possibly) to  the  colonnade  of  the  Forum.  Beyond 
the  remains  of  the  Basilica  rises  the  Column  of  Trajan, 
now  crowned  by  a  statue  of  St.  Peter  set  up  by  Sixtus  V  in 
1587.  The  shaft,  base,  and  capital  measure  100  Roman  feet 
in  height,  and  the  column  was  therefore  called  coliimna 
centenariaj  it  also  bore  the  name  columna  cochlis  from  the 
resemblance  of  its  spiral  to  the  shell  of  a  snail.  In  the 
pedestal  was  a  chamber  wherein  the  ashes  of  Trajan — 
who  died  in  Cilicia  in  A.D.  117 — were  deposited  by  Hadrian 
in  a  golden  urn.  The  entrance  by  a  door  in  the  E.  side 
of  the  pedestal  was  reopened  by  Comm.  Boni  m  1906,  and 
the  chamber  made  accessible.  It  had,  of  course,  been 
thoroughly  rifled  in  the  Dark  Ages.  The  pedestal  is  deco- 
rated with  trophies  and  supports  the  base  of  the  column, 
carved  with  leaves  of  laurel  in  the  form  of  a  wreath.  The 
shaft  is  composed  of  twenty-three  blocks  of  Parian  marble  ; 
it  is  hollow  and  contains  a  spiral  staircase  of  185  steps,  lit 
by  forty-three  narrow  windows  ;  by  this  we  may  ascend  to 
the  platform  formed  by  the  Doric  capital  of  the  column. 


viil]  the  imperial  FOR  A  157 

The  significance  of  this  monument  has  lately  been  the 
subject  of  controversy.  The  inscription  over  the  doorway 
in  the  pedestal  records  the  erection  of  the  column  by  the 
Senate  and  people  of  Rome  in  the  year  a.d.  113,  and  adds 
the  words  "ad  declarandum  quantae  altitudinis  mons  et 
locus  tantis  operibus  sit  egestus."  T"^^  prima  facie  vcv^dimvi'g 
would  seem  to  be  that  the  column  indicated  by  its  height 
that  of  the  mountain  of  earth  which  had  been  removed  in 
order  to  clear  the  site  for  Trajan's  buildings,  and  the  words 
were  undoubtedly  taken  in  this  sense  by  the  historian  Cassius 
Dio,  who  wrote  but  one  hundred  years  later  than  the  erection 
of  the  column.  There  is,  however,  great  difficulty  in  suppos- 
ing that  the  saddle  connecting  the  Quirinal  with  the  Capitol 
approached  100  feet  in  height.  Moreover,  Comm.  Boni's 
excavations  in  the  near  neighbourhood  of  the  column 
brought  to  light  an  ancient  road  and  other  remains  which 
had  been  in  existence  before  the  column  was  set  up.  He 
therefore  proposed  a  new  version  of  the  inscription,  taking 
the  word  "  egestus "  in  the  sense  not  of  "  cleared,"  but  of 
'•'raised,"  supposing  that  the  100  feet  measured,  not  the 
height  of  the  hill  which  was  removed,  but  that  of  the  build- 
ings afterwards  erected  on  the  site.  Other  less  satisfactory 
explanations  of  the  crucial  words  have  been  offered,  in  order 
to  evade  the  difficulty  as  to  the  levels. 

We  have  next  to  consider  the  spiral  band  of  reliefs,  on  an 
average  rather  more  than  3  feet  in  width,  by  which  the 
column  is  adorned.  It  is  of  course  impossible  to  appreciate 
them  fully  in  their  present  position,  and  even  in  antiquity, 
when  the  column  was  surrounded  by  a  gallery  in  two  stories, 
the  details  must  have  been  difficult  to  study  ;  yet  even  the 
most  minute  are  often  full  of  meaning.  So  far  as  we  know 
this  was  the  first  example  of  a  column  so  decorated ;  and 
we  cannot  set  a  high  aesthetic  value  upon  the  conception, 
which  not  only  sets  decoration  above  function,  but  reduces 
what  should  be  pregnant  with  meaning  to  the  level  of  orna- 
ment :  for  the  number  of  those  who  will  read  the  story  told 
by  the  reliefs  must  always  be  few.  They  are,  of  course, 
most  conveniently  studied  in  a  set  of  casts,  such  as  those 


158  THE  IMPERIAL  FOR  A  [viii. 

preserved  in  the  South  Kensington  Museum  (or,  in  Rome 
itself,  in  the  Museum  of  the  Lateran).  However,  with  the 
aid  of  a  pair  of  field-glasses,  the  most  striking  episodes  may 
be  seen  from  the  piazza. 

The  Dacians  were  a  people  who  lived  in  the  modern 
Transsylvania  and  also  to  the  S.  of  the  Carpathians  in 
Wallachia  and  part  of  Roumania.  We  hear  of  them  as  a 
powerful  and  warlike  nation  in  the  reign  of  Augustus  ;  but 
it  was  not  until  the  time  of  the  Flavian  emperors  that 
that  they  became  a  serious  menace  to  the  security  of  the 
Danube  frontier.  Domitian  waged  war  with  them  unsuccess- 
fully, and  it  was  imperatively  necessary  for  Trajan  to  retrieve 
the  prestige  of  Rome  and  settle  accounts  with  Decebalus, 
the  king  of  Dacia,  who  had  succeeded  in  establishing  a 
great  military  power.  He  had,  for  example,  enticed  Roman 
engineers  into  his  service  and  formed  a  park  of  artillery  on 
the  Roman  model  ;  he  had  also  sought  allies  amongst  the 
neighbouring  peoples,  such  as  the  Sarmatians  of  S.  Russia 
(ancestors  of  the  modern  Slavs)  who  furnished  him  with  a 
force  of  heavy  cavalry  clad  in  chain-mail.  Even  before  he 
visited  Rome  for  the  first  time  as  Emperor,  Trajan  had  begun 
the  construction  of  a  military  highway  from  the  Rhine  to 
the  Danube,  and  in  A.D.  loi  he  invaded  Dacia,  and  after  two 
campaigns  reduced  its  capital  Sarmizegetusa  (in  S.  Trans- 
sylvania) and  imposed  terms  of  peace  on  Decebalus.  Soon 
afterwards,  however,  the  Dacians  rose  in  a  last  struggle  for 
independence,  and  a  second  war  broke  out,  which  also 
lasted  for  two  years  (A.D.  105-6),  and  ended  with  the  conquest 
of  Dacia  and  its  reduction  to  the  status  of  a  Roman  province. 
Decebalus  committed  suicide.  No  contemporary  historian 
has  left  an  account  of  these  wars,  and  it  has  bean  said  with 
truth  as  regards  them  that  "  material  evidence  constitutes 
the  text,  literary  documents  only  the  commentary." 

The  narrative  begins  on  the  lowest  band  of  the  spiral,  and 
is  divided  into  two  parts  by  the  figure  of  a  Victory  between 
trophies  half  way  up  the  column,  which  separates  the  story 
of  the  first  war  from  that  of  the  second.  In  the  narrow 
space  at  the  beginning  we  have  a  picture  of  the  Danube  with 


viil]  the  imperial  FORA  159 

\  forts  guarded  by  Roman  sentinels  and  boats  from  which 
stores  are  being  unloaded.  The  river  is  personified  by  a 
colossal  bearded  figure  in  a  cave,  who  stretches  out  his  R. 
hand  to  encourage  the  Roman  columns,  which  are  leaving  a 
fortified  town  and  crossing  a  double  bridge  of  boats.  The 
town  is  Viminacium,  now  Kostolatz  in  Servia,  and  it  seems 
probable  that  only  one  army,  commanded  by  Trajan  in 
person,  is  represented :  others,  however,  hold  that  two 
columns  crossing  the  river  with  a  considerable  interval 
between  them  in  order  to  execute  a  converging  movement 

'  are  conventionally  indicated.  In  any  case,  the  troops  which 
are  crossing  by  the  first  bridge  are  Legionaries,  the  details 

I  of  whose  marching  kit  are  rendered  with  an  exactitude 
which  makes  them  invaluable  to  the  students  of  Roman 
military  antiquities  ;  while  the  column  in  front  of  them  is 

'  composed  of  Praetorian  Guards  who  always  accompanied 
the  Emperor.    It  is  always  possible  to  distinguish  the  legions 

■  from  the  guards  by  the  difference  in  their  standards.  The 
;  legionary  ensigns  are  composed  mainly  of  a  series  of  metal 
I  plates  or  shallow  bowls,  known  as  phalerae,  which  were 

granted  to  the  legion  as  a  mark  of  honour  :  above  these  we 
see  a  hand  or  other  symbol  peculiar  to  the  corps.    The  ensigns 

■  of  the  guard,  on  the  other  hand,  are  adorned  with  medallions 
bearing  portraits  of  the  Emperor  or  other  members  of  his 
house,  as  well  as  wreaths  or  crowns  which  take  the  place  of 
the  phalerce. 

After  the  passage  of  the  Danube  we  have  some  isolated 
scenes — a  council  of  war,  a  sacrifice  outside  a  camp,  and  a 
strange  scene  in  which  a  barbarian,  holding  an  enormous 
mushroom,  falls  backwards  off  his  mule  in  awe  at  the  un- 

xpected  sight  of  the  Emperor.  (There  is  a  reference  to 
is  episode  in  Cassius  Dio.)     After  a  harangue  delivered  to 

he  troops  by  Trajan,  the  march  begins,  and  we  see  the 
legions  hewing  their  way  through  forests,  bridging  streams, 
and  building  camps.  We  know  that  Trajan's  route  lay  along 
the  spurs  of  the  Western  Carpathians,  and  that  he  then 
turned  eastwards  and  attempted  to  gain  access  to  the  Trans- 
sylvanian  plateau  by  the  valley  of  the  Temes.     At  the  close 


I 


i6o  THE  IMPERIAL   FORA  [viii. 

of  a  march  through  forest  we  have  a  fine  battle  scene,  with  a 
figure  of  Jupiter  the  Storm-god  hurling  his  bolts  against  the 
enemies  of  Rome.  The  Dacian  king  is  seen  in  the  forest  to 
the  R.  The  result  of  the  battle  is,  however,  indecisive.  We 
see  Trajan  standing  before  an  impregnable  barrier,  in  front 
of  which  are  a  grisly  row  of  skulls  on  poles.  The  inference 
is  clear  :  Trajan  was  unable  to  force  the  defences  of  the  Iron 
Gate  Pass,  which  leads  into  Transsylvania,  in  his  first  cam- 
paign. Desultory  operations  followed  ;  we  see  a  Dacian 
princess  with  her  child  about  to  embark  on  the  Danube — 
doubtless  a  captive  or  hostage.  Then  the  Dacians  together 
with  their  allies,  the  mailed  horsemen  of  the  Sarmatian 
Steppe,  are  seen  crossing  the  Danube  and  raiding  Roman 
territory  on  the  S.  bank  (in  the  modern  Bulgaria).  Trajan 
is  forced  to  embark  at  a  city  with  temples  and  amphitheatre, 
and  after  landing  lower  down  the  river,  to  come  to  the  assis- 
tance of  his  hard-pressed  troops.  The  Dacians  are  routed 
— we  know  that  Trajan  founded  a  city  called  Nicopolis,  now 
Tirnovo  in  Bulgaria,  to  commemorate  the  victory — and  the 
campaign  ends  with  the  distribution  of  rewards  to  the  soldiers 
and  the  return  of  Trajan  to  his  base  of  operations.  (Between 
these  scenes  we  see  a  group  of  Dacian  women  torturing 
Roman  captives.) 

In  the  second  campaign  (that  of  a.d.  102)  the  army  again 
crosses  the  Danube  by  a  bridge  of  boats,  and  pursues  a  route 
different  from  that  of  the  previous  year,  no  doubt  in  order  to 
turn  the  defences  of  the  Iron  Gate  Pass.  After  forcing  their 
way  through  mountainous  country,  in  which  the  Moorish 
cavalry — recognisable  by  their  long  twisted  curls  of  hair — 
form  the  advance-guard,  under  the  command  (as  the  his- 
torians tell  us)  of  their  chief  Lusius  Quietus,  they  engage 
and  defeat  the  Dacians  ;  engines  of  war  drawn  by  mules  are 
here  shown.  The  enemy's  entrenchments  are  now  stormed 
by  irregular  troops — amongst  whom  we  notice  Palmyrene 
archers  in  long  skirts  and  conical  helmets.  Another  for- 
tress is  taken  by  legionaries  with  shields  locked  in  a  solid 
roof— the  "  tortoise  "  or  testudo.  Finally,  after  a  pause  in  the 
action,  marked  by  a  harangue  of  the  Emperor  to  his  assem- 


VIII.]  THE  IMPERIAL  FORA  i6i 

bled  troops  and  a  quiet  scene  where  their  weary  horses  are 
watered  at  a  stream,  comes  the  crowning  episode — the  sub- 
mission of  Decebalus,  tendered  in  his  capital  Sarmize- 
getusa.  This  fine  composition,  extending  over  several  slabs, 
is  marked  off  by  conventional  trees  at  either  extremity,  and 
is  symmetrically  disposed.  On  the  L.  sits  Trajan  surrounded 
by  his  officers  and  his  guards,  with  a  forest  of  ensigns  rising 
in  the  background.  Before  him  kneel  Dacians  of  high  rank 
(the  wearing  of  the  peaked  cap  betokens  this)  imploring  his 
clemency.  Others  stand  behind  them,  and  thep  comes  a 
crowd  of  kneeling  suppliants.  In  the  background  is  Sarmize- 
getusa,  partly  defended  by  massive  walls  of  masonry,  partly 
by  outworks  built  with  sawn  logs.  The  war  closes  with  the 
return  of  the  conquered  people,  with  their  flocks  and  herds, 
to  their  mountain  homes  and  the  closing  address  of  the 
Emperor  to  his  troops.  Their  exploits  are  recorded  by 
Victory  on  her  shield — a  motive  borrowed  from  Hellenic  art. 

The  opening  of  the  Second  War  is  represented  in  a  very 
different  way.  We  see  a  harbour,  which  can  be  identified 
with  certainty  as  that  of  Ancona  on  the  Adriatic,  both  by 
the  temple  containing  a  statue  of  Venus  and  also  by  the 
arch  which  stands  to  this  day  on  its  quay.  Hence  a  fleet  of 
galleys  put  out  to  sea,  bearing  the  Emperor  and  his  guards. 
They  are  welcomed  on  the  opposite  coast  of  the  Adriatic  at 
lader  (the  modern  Zara)  by  the  assembled  population.  Trajan 
next  visits  a  town  with  a  large  theatre  and  other  buildings 
which  may  be  identified  with  Salona^,  and  hence  goes 
inland  to  inspect  a  camp  occupied  by  legionaries — that  of 
Burnum,  in  Dalmatia.  He  now  takes  ship  again,  and 
finally  lands  at  a  port  from  which  by  rapid  marching  through 
hilly  country  he  reaches  a  spot  where  he  is  greeted  both  by 
Romans  and  by  a  friendly  Dacian  population,  and  offers 
sacrifice  at  six  altars.  Probably  the  harbour  is  Lissus,  and 
the  Dacians  are  settlers  planted  by  Trajan,  according  to  the 
practice  of  the  emperors,  on  Roman  soil. 

So  far  the  narrative  is  clear,  and  the  progress  of  the  story 
rapid.  What,  however,  was  the  motive  which  induced  the 
artist  to  represent  Trajan^s  journey  at  length.^     It  is  ex- 

M 


1 62  THE  IMPERIAL  FOR  A  [viii. 

plained  by  the  scenes  which  follow.  On  a  panoramic  back- 
ground of  mountains  we  see  first  the  Dacians  and  their 
leader,  who  is  receiving  the  reports  of  a  reconnoitring  party, 
then  a  Roman  fort  attacked  by  the  enemy  and  gallantly  de- 
fended ;  lastly,  a  Roman  garrison  whose  defences  are  almost 
carried  when  Trajan  appears  at  the  head  of  his  cavalry  and 
relieves  it.  We  must  read  this  part  of  the  story  as  a  whole, 
and  see  in  it  the  explanation  of  Trajan's  hurried  departure 
from  Ancona  and  his  march  by  the  shortest  route  to  the 
Lower  Danube.  The  Dacians  have  again  raided  the  Roman 
province  as  they  did  in  the  first  war.  This  is  confirmed  by 
the  scene  which  follows,  and  forms  the  centre  and  pivot  of 
the  second  series  of  reliefs.  In  the  background  is  the  great 
bridge  with  stone  piers  and  wooden  superstructure,  thrown 
over  the  Danube  by  Trajan's  orders  not  far  from  the  Iron 
Gates,  and  designed  by  iVpollodorus,  the  architect  of  his 
Forum.i  Here  he  receives  embassies  from  a  number  of  bar- 
barian tribes,  minutely  characterised  by  their  dress  and 
physical  type  ;  and  then — in  the  spring  of  a.d.  io6 — the 
final  campaign  opens  with  the  usual  scenes  of  sacrifice, 
council  of  war,  and  Imperial  harangue.  This  time  the 
converging  march  of  two  armies  on  different  lines  of 
advance  separated  by  a  mountain  range  is  clearly,  if 
conventionally,  indicated  by  the  simple  device  of  repre- 
senting one  of  the  columns  above  the  heads  of  the  other, 
and  divided  from  it  by  a  shelf  of  rock.  When  the  armies 
unite  the  end  is  near.  The  Dacian  capital  is  represented 
no  less  than  three  times  in  the  desire  of  the  artist  to  tell 
the  whole  of  his  story — first  in  a  compendious  form,  with 
the  figures  of  Dacians  running  hither  and  thither  in  alarm 
at  the  approach  of  the  Roman  columns— then  in  the 
course  of  the  siege,  with  incidents  of  attack  and  defence 
hardly  to  be  conceived  as  contemporaneous  ;  lastly,  in  a 
magnificent  panorama  which,  when  examined,  falls  into 
three  sections.  In  the  first  the  Dacians  are  firing  the 
doomed  city  ;    in  the   second,  those  who  prefer  death  to 

^  The  piers  of  this  bridge  are  still  in  situ,  though  the  upper 
part  is  lost. 


VIII.]  THE  IMPERIAL  FORA  163 

flight  are  grouped  about  a  huge  bowl  of  poison  which  has 
already  claimed  its  victims  ;  lastly,  we  see  a  remnant  of  the 
conquered  people  leaving  the  city,  which,  we  must  suppose, 
was  not  closely  invested.  It  has  been  suggested  with  much 
probability  that  this  panorama  of  the  Fall  of  Sarmizegetusa 
was  inspired  (as  regards  its  composition)  by  the  famous 
fresco  of  the  Fall  of  Troy  painted  by  Polygnotus  at  Delphi. 
After  this  climax  the  struggle  becomes  a  war  of  episodes, 
recalling  the  closing  scenes  of  the  war  between  Briton  and 
Boer  in  South  Africa.  One  scene  deserves  special  notice— 
the  Suicide  of  Decebalus,  who,  when  "  rounded  up  "  by  the 
Roman  cavalry,  plunges  a  knife  into  his  breast,  just  as  the 
Gaul  on  a  sarcophagus  in  the  Capitoline  Museum  described 
above  (p.  107).  The  last  band  of  the  spiral  shows  us  a  long 
train  of  cattle  driven  by  the  irreconcilable  Dacians  into  the 
wild  country  beyond  their  borders. 

The  great  "  epic  in  stone  "  has  been  justly  admired  as  the 
most  important  example  of  an  attempt  to  create  a  purely 
Roman  art  filled  with  the  Roman  spirit,  and  celebrating  the 
triumph  of  Roman  discipline  and  determination  over  bar- 
baric courage.  The  style  has  its  conventions,  but  a  little 
study  will  make  them  intelligible.  The  perspective  is  of 
course  faulty,  but  the  eye  is  soon  accustomed  to  this  defect, 
and  is  led  to  make  allowance  for  it. 

The  reliefs  of  the  column  were  not  the  only  ones  inspired 
by  Trajan's  victories  on  the  Danube.  It  has  long  been  recog- 
nised that  several  slabs  from  a  frieze  in  which  episodes  from 
the  same  wars  are  represented  on  a  much  larger  scale  exist 
in  various  places.  Some  were  used  to  adorn  the  Arch  of 
Constantine  ;  others  are  in  the  portico  of  the  Villa  Bor- 
ghese  ;  one  is  walled  up  in  the  garden  front  of  the  Villa 
Medici ;  and  a  fine  fragment  has  found  its  way  to  the 
Louvre.  It  is  most  likely  that  this  frieze  had  its  original 
place  in  the  Forum  of  Trajan. 

At  the  western  end  of  Trajan's  buildings — where  the 
twin  churches  of  the  Piazza  del  Foro  Trajano  now  stand — 
a  temple  was  built  for  the  worship  of  the  great  Emperor  by 
his  successor  Hadrian.  It  has,  however,  long  been  levelled 
to  the  ground. 


IX 

THE  CAMPUS  MARTI  US 

r*^  I  ^HE  "field  of  Mars" — which  took  its  name  from  an 
L  X  altar  of  the  War-god  set  up,  according  to  legend, 
by  Romulus — was  the  name  originally  given  to  the  whole  of 
the  low-lying  land  enclosed  between  the  great  bend  of  the 
Tiber  and  the  slopes  of  the  Capitol,  Quirinal  and  Pincian  ; 
and  though  the  term  was  afterwards  restricted  in  its 
application  by  Augustus,  who  made  the  Via  Lata  ("  Broad 
Street "),  which  corresponds  to  the  modern  Corso,  its 
eastern  boundary,  it  is  convenient  to  apply  it  to  the  whole 
region.  This  is  now  the  most  densely  populated  quarter  of 
Rome,  but  it  was  quite  otherwise  in  ancient  times.  Originally 
it  was  swampy  in  places,  until  the  watercourses  coming 
down  from  the  Quirinal  were  regulated  ;  and  the  meadow- 
land  which  took  the  place  of  its  marshes  remained  until 
late  historical  times  in  the  ownership  of  the  Roman  people. 
Here  it  was  that  the  Comitia  centuriata^  or  "assembly  of  the 
people  by  centuries,"  alway  met,  since  it  lay  entirely  without 
the  pomerium  (until  it  was  extended  by  successive  emperors) 
and  martial  law  could  be  administered  there.  Under  the 
later  Republic,  however,  public  buildings  began  to  spring 
up  in  its  southern  portion.  Augustus  and  Agrippa  (cf.  p. 
lo)  did  much  to  transform  its  aspect,  and  later  emperors — 
notably  the  Flavians,  Hadrian,  and  the  Antonines— occupied 
most  of  the  available  space  in  the  central  region  with  their 
buildings.] 

In  order  to  obtain  a  conspectus  of  the  historical  develop- 
ment of  the  Campus  Martius   it   is  best  to  begin  at   its 

164 


IX.]  THE   CAMPUS  MARTIUS  165 

southern  extremity,  in  the  narrow  strip  of  land  between  the 
Capitoline  hill  and  the  river.  Here  the  "  Servian "  wall 
had  two  gates,  one  of  which — the  Porta  Carmentalis — was 
approximately  on  the  line  of  the  Via  della  Bocca  della 
Verita.  Without  it  was  the  Forum  holitorium  or  "  vegetable 
market"  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Piazza  Montanara, 
which  forms  a  convenient  starting-point.  Close  by  to  the 
S.W.  is  the  church  of  S.  Nicola  in  Carcere.  Within,  around, 
and  beneath  this  church  are  the  remains  of  three  temples, 
all  of  which  date  from  the  time  of  the  Republic,  and  over- 
looked the  Forum  holitorium  on  the  W.  Built  into  the 
fagade  of  the  church  and  also  in  the  interior  are  several 
columns  belonging  to  these  temples  :  and  in  the  narrow 
lane  to  the  L.  of  the  church  may  be  seen  on  the  R.  one  which 
appears  at  first  sight  to  belong  to  a  strangely  simplified 
form  of  the  Tuscan  order.  The  truth  is  that  the  mouldings 
of  the  capital  were  added  in  stucco  and  renewed  from  time 
to  time  with  modifications  in  accordance  with  the  prevailing 
taste  of  the  day.  The  most  southerly  of  the  three  temples, 
to  which  this  column  belonged,  was  that  of  Juno  Sospita 
("the  Deliverer"),  dedicated  in  194  B.C.,  and  such  of  its 
remains  as  exist  beneath  the  church  of  S.  Nicola  are  of  traver- 
tine. The  largest  of  the  three  temples  was  the  central  one, 
which  must  be  that  of  Hope,  built  during  the  First  Punic 
War  and  burnt  once  and  again,  but  finally  restored  by  Ger- 
manicus  in  a.d.  17.  The  most  northerly  was  the  temple  of 
Janus,  built  in  260  B.C.  by  Gaius  Duilius,  the  admiral  in 
whose  honour  the  Columna  Rostrata  (p.  132)  was  set  up  ;  its 
history  was  much  the  same  as  that  of  its  neighbour.  The 
remains  of  the  podia  and  ceila^  of  these  temples,  which  exist 
I    beneath  the  church,  are  shown  by  the  sacristan.     Curiously 

1™^  enough,  the  legend  which  has  woven  itself  about  the  church 
is  connected  with  none  of  them,  but  with  that  of  a  fourth, 
the  temple  of  Pietas,  dedicated  in  181  B.C.,  but  destroyed 
by  Augustus  to  make  room  for  the  Theatre  of  Marcellus. 
The  story  ran  that  it  was  built  on  the  site  of  the  prison  set 
up  by  Appius  Claudius  the  decemvir,  in  honour  of  a  daughter 
whose  filial  affection  ("  Pietas  ")  had  saved  her  father's  life 


i66  THE  CAMPUS  MARTIUS  [ix. 

by  bestowing  on  him  the  nourishment  which  should  have 
been  her  child's  :  but  the  prison  from  which  the  church  of 
S.  Nicola  takes  its  name  was  of  the  Byzantine  age. 

In  the  Via  del  Teatro  di  Marcello,  which  branches  to  the 
N.W.  from  the  Piazza  Montanara,  are  the  remains  of  the 
Theatre  of  Marcellus  planned  by  Julius  Caesar,  but 
carried  out  by  Augustus,  who  dedicated  it  in  13  B.C.  to  the 
memory  of  his  nephew  Marcellus,  the  son  of  his  sister 
Octavia,  whose  untimely  death  in  23  B.C.  was  lamented  by 
Vergil  in  a  famous  passage  of  the  sixth  ^neid.  It  saw 
partly  saved  from  destruction  by  its  conversion  into  a 
mediaeval  stronghold,  which  ultimately  became  the  posses- 
sion of  the  Orsini.  The  ruins  of  the  stage-buildings  and 
seats  form  the  great  mound  of  debris  on  which  the  Palazzo 
Orsini  is  built.  What  we  see  are  the  arcades  of  the  ex- 
terior, with  superposed  orders  as  in  the  Colosseum.  The 
lowest  story,  half  buried  in  the  earth  and  occupied  by  work- 
shops, is  of  the  Doric,  the  seconci  of  the  Ionic  order :  the 
third  no  longer  exists.  We  are  told  that  the  theatre  seated 
14,000  spectators,  but  this  is  very  doubtful. 

Not  far  from  the  Forum  holitorium  was  the  earliest 
Temple  of  Apollo,  built  in  429  B.C.,  and  restored  in  32  B.C. 
by  Gaius  Sosius,  a  general  of  Augustus,  who  filled  it  with 
works  of  art,  notably  the  group  of  the  Niobids  (p.  324). 
Some  remains  of  its  substructure  have  been  discovered  to 
the  S.  of  S.  Maria  in  Campitelli  (between  Piazza  Campi- 
telli  and  Via  dei  Sugherari). 

The  region  to  the  N.  of  the  buildings  which  have  been 
described  was  crowded  with  places  of  public  resort  and 
amusement.  Nothing  is  now  left  of  the  Circus  Flaminius, 
built  in  221  B.C.,  which  gave  its  name  to  the  ninth  of 
Augustus'  fourteen  regions  ;  but  its  remains  were  still  extant 
in  the  sixteenth  century,  and  the  Via  delle  Botteghe  Oscure 
takes  its  name  from  the  external  arcades,  which  must,  like 
those  of  the  Theatre  of  Marcellus,  have  been  used  as  shops. 
If,  however,  we  leave  the  Piazza  Montanara  by  the  Via  del 
Teatro  di  Marcello,  we  shall  come  to  the  remains  of  the 
Porticus  of    Octavia;    the  entrance,  with  its    Corinthian 


IX.]  THE  CAMPUS  MARTIUS  167 

columns  and  pediment,  and  some  columns  on  either  side, 
belong — as  the  inscription  thereon  shows — to  a  restoration 
carried  out  by  Septimius  Severus  and  Caracalla  in  A.D.  203. 
The  porticus  dates  from  146  B.C.,  when  Q.  Caecilius 
Metellus,  the  conqueror  of  Macedonia,  built  temples  to 
Jupiter  and  Juno  and  enclosed  them  with  a  colonnade,  at 
the  same  time  filling  them  with  works  of  art,  both  old  and 
new.  Augustus  restored  the  whole  group  of  buildings  and 
called  them  by  the  name  of  his  sister  Octavia.  In  the 
Middle  Ages  the  fish  market  was  established  here,  and  the 
church  of  S.  Angelo  in  Pescheria,  to  which  the  Jews  were 
compelled  to  resort  from  the  neighbouring  Ghetto,  arose  on 
the  site  of  the  ancient  temples. 

These  sadly  mutilated  remains  are  all  that  now  enables  us 
to  picture  the  lost  magnificence  of  the  buildings  with  which 
the  whole  of  this  quarter  was  covered.  Not  a  trace  is  left 
of  the  Porticus  Octavia  (built  by  a  Roman  admiral, 
Cr.  Octavius,  in  the  second  century  B.C.),  the  Porticus 
Philippic  named  after  the  stepfather  of  Augustus  (which 
may  have  been  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Piazza  Mattei),  or 
of  the  Porticus  Mi?iucia^  built  in  109  B.C.  and  afterwards 
.restored  and  enlarged  to  serve  as  the  centre  of  the  corn 
distributions  which  pauperised  the  mob  of  Imperial  Rome — 
unless,  indeed,  the  remains  of  travertine  piers  with  engaged 
half-columns  which  are  to  be  seen  in  Via  dei  Calderari 
(which  we  may  reach  from  the  Porticus  Octavia  by  crossing 
the  site  of  the  Ghetto  and  passing  to  the  R.  of  the  Palazzo 
Cenci)  are  to  be  assigned  to  the  last-named  of  these.  The 
Monte  dei  Cenci,  upon  which  the  palace  stands,  however, 
is  formed  by  the  ruins  of  the  Theatre  of  Balbus,  built  by 
L,  Cornelius  Balbus,  the  son  of  a  Spaniard  raised  to  high 
honour  by  Julius  Caesar,  and  dedicated  in  13  B.C.  It  was 
smaller  than  the  theatre  of  Marcellus,  and  had  a  covered 
foyer  called  the  Crypta  Balbi.  Crossing  the  Via  Arenula 
and  the  Piazza  Benedetto  Cairoli,  we  proceed  along  the 
Via  dei  Giubbonari  towards  the  Campo  di  Fiore.  To  the 
R.  were  the  buildings  by  the  erection  of  which  Pompey 
sought   to  win  popularity  in    Rome  as   consul   in    55  B.C. 


i68  THE  CAMPUS  MARTIUS  [ix. 

Colonnades  and  halls— the  Porticus  Potnpeiance,  afterwards 
restored  by  Diocletian  — including  the  Curia  Pompei  in 
which  Caesar  was  murdered,  together  with  gardens  and 
fountains,  formed  an  enclosed  park,  to  the  N.W.  of 
which  was  a  theatre,  the  first  permanent  building  of  the 
kind  in  Rome,  richly  adorned  with  statues  and  paintings, 
and  containing  a  temple  of  Venus  the  Victorious  which 
Pompey  was  forced  to  build  in  deference  to  the  clamour  of 
the  Conservative  moralists.  Nothing  remains  of  its  splen- 
dour but  the  two  Pans  in  the  Capitoline  Museum  (p.  105) 
which  have  given  their  name  to  the  Piazza  dei  Satiri,  where 
the  stage  buildings  stood,  the  colossal  Hercules  of  gilt 
bronze  in  the  Vatican  Rotunda  (p.  278),  and  some  other 
sculptures  :  the  curve  of  the  auditorium  is  preserved  in  that 
of  the  modern  Via  di  Grottapinta. 

It  is  hard,  indeed,  with  such  scanty  materials  to  conjure 
up  a  picture  of  this  S.W.  quarter,  which  had  been  thus 
covered  with  theatres  and  porticoes  by  the  dawn  of  the 
Christian  era.  Before  leaving  it  the  traveller  should  pay 
a  visit  to  the  Palazzo  Spada  (turn  to  L.  at  the  corner  of 
the  Campo  di  Fiore),  which  contains  a  few  sculptures  of 
exceptional  interest.  In  the  throne  room  is  a  colossal 
statue  popularly  believed  to  represent  Pompey.  The  head 
bears  no  resemblance  to  the  true  portrait  of  Pompey— a 
head  at  Copenhagen  which  agrees  with  the  type  on  the 
coins  struck  by  his  sons — and,  moreover,  does  not  belong 
to  the  statue,  as  may  be  seen  by  the  fact  that  on  the 
shoulders  are  traces  of  the  loose  ends  of  a  fillet  with  which 
the  hair  of  the  original  head  was  bound.  Nevertheless,  the 
story  runs  that  head  and  body  were  found  together  (in  the 
sixteenth  century),  but  on  either  side  of  the  boundary 
between  two  properties,  and  that  the  ownership  of  the 
statue  was  accordingly  disputed.  If  the  anecdote  be  true, 
we  have  an  example  of  a  practice  common  in  antiquity — 
that  of  replacing  the  original  head  of  a  portrait- statue  by 
that  of  some  popular  personage  of  later  date.  The  name  of 
Pompey  was  bestowed  upon  this  statue  because  it  was  found 
not  far  from  the  Cancelleria,  and  therefore  near  to  Pompey's 


IX.]  THE   CAMPUS  MARTIUS  169 

theatre.  The  statue  of  Pompey  in  the  Curia  Pompei  at 
the  feet  of  which  CcEsar  was  murdered  was  afterwards 
set  up  by  Augustus  outside  the  theatre  ;  and  the  statue 
before  us,  from  its  colossal  size  and  the  fact  that  it  carried 
in  the  R.  hand  a  globe  surmounted  by  a  Victory,  whilst 
the  R.  hand  was  (probably)  uplifted  in  the  gesture  of 
an  orator  commanding  silence,  was  evidently  that  of  a 
personage  of  the  highest  distinction.  More  than  this  we 
cannot  say. 

In  the  gallery  overlooking  the  courtyard  of  the  palace 
are  eight  reliefs  which  help  to  give  us  some  idea  of  the 
magnificence  with  which  the  walls  of  Roman  palaces  were 
decorated.  These  reliefs  are  evidently  intended  as  panels 
to  take  the  place  of  pictures.  Their  style  and  composi- 
tion is  in  many  respects  akin  to  painting  rather  than 
to  sculpture.  There  has  been  much  controversy  as  to  the 
date  of  these  reliefs  and  others  of  their  class  :  see  what  was 
said  on  page  116  as  to  those  in  the  Room  of  the  Emperors. 
It  is  not  disputed  that  elements  of  landscape — such  as  the 
rustic  shrine  and  sacred  tree,  so  familiar  to  us  from  wall- 
paintings  like  those  of  the  Palatine  (p.  92)  or  Pompeii — 
Were  introduced  into  relief  sculpture  in  the  Hellenistic 
period  ;  but  it  is  not  proved  that  wall  decoration  of  this 
elaborate  kind  was  known  before  the  days  of  the  Empire. 
Moreover,  while  the  influence  of  painting  is  not  to  be 
denied,  it  is  none  the  less  true  that  some  of  the  figures 
in  these  compositions  are  adaptations  of  statuary  types,  and 
display  the  poverty  of  invention  characteristic  of  Roman 
mythological  art.  Those  who  believe  this  series  to  date 
from  the  age  of  Cassar  or  Augustus  admit  that  some — e.g. 
that  of  Paris  and  GEnone — are  much  later,  and  it  is  perhaps 
most  probable  that  the  whole  set  really  belongs  to  the  time 
of  Hadrian.  Some  compositions  of  this  kind  seem  to  have 
been  specially  famous.  Portions  of  two  were  found  on  the 
Palatine,  representing  Daedalus  with  Icarus,  and  a  child- 
Satyr  attended  by  a  nymph  :  and  replicas  of  both  of  these 
are  in  existence. 


I70  THE   CAMPUS  MARTIUS  [ix. 

On  the  L.  wall  of  the  gallery  we  have  the  following 
subjects  : — 

1.  Paris  and  Eros.  The  figure  of  Paris  is  taken  from  a 
larger  composition,  in  which  the  three  goddesses  were 
shown.  He  is  listening  to  the  persuasive  utterance  of 
Eros,  who  is  singing  the  charms  of  Aphrodite.  The  cattle 
which  fill  the  lower  part  of  the  panel  are  a  clumsy  addition 
of  the  artist  for  the  purpose  of  filling  the  space. 

2.  The  death  of  Archemoros.  Hypsipyle,  banished  from 
Lemnos,  became  the  slave  of  Lycurgus,  king  of  Nemea, 
and  the  nurse  of  his  child  Opheltes,  who  was  killed  by  a 
snake  whilst  she  was  showing  the  "  Seven  against  Thebes  " 
the  way  to  a  spring.  The  heroes  buried  the  child  with  state, 
founding  the  Nemean  games  in  its  honour,  and  changing 
its  name  to  Archemoros,  the  "harbinger  of  death."  The 
legend  was  the  subject  of  a  famous  tragedy  of  Euripides, 
based  on  the  deliverance  of  Hypsipyle  by  her  long-lost 
sons,  who  were  in  the  train  of  the  Seven  ;  some  remains  of 
the  lost  play  have  recently  been  recovered  in  an  Egyptian 
papyrus. 

3.  Paris  and  Qinone.  Paris  is  about  to  leave  his  first 
love,  (Enone,  and  sail  to  Greece  on  his  fatal  quest,  inspired 
by  Aphrodite's  promises.  Another  version  of  this  subject 
only  differing  in  minor  points  from  our  relief  has  been  pre- 
served, and  shows  that  the  river-god  Scamander  is  an 
addition  of  the  Roman  artist. 

4.  The  theft  of  the  Palladium.  Odysseus  and  Diomed 
have  stolen  the  image  of  Athena  upon  which  hung  the  fate 
of  Troy,  and  are  now  quarrelling  over  their  booty  before 
the  temple.  The  image  was  held  by  Diomed  in  the  L. 
hand,  which  is  wrongly  restored.  Notice  the  contrast  be- 
tween the  two  heroes:  Diomed  embodies  physical  force, 
Odysseus  cunning. 

5.  Adonis.  The  composition,  with  its  rustic  background 
(largely  restored  on  the  l.)j  breathes  the  sentimental  spirit 
of  a  Hellenistic  idyll.  Adonis  has  been  wounded  in  the 
R.  leg  and  is  leaning  on  his  spear  to  ease  the  pain. 

On  the  opposite  side  of  the  gallery 


IX.]  THE   CAMPUS  MARTIUS  \^l 

6.  Bellerophon  and  Pegasus.  Bellerophon,  an  ideal 
statuary  type,  is  in  strong  contrast  with  the  horse,  which 
is  inferior  in  conception  and  execution,  and  the  background, 
which  is  perfunctory. 

Passing  by  a  cast  of  the  Endymion  relief  in  the  Capitoline 
Museum,  we  come  to 

7.  Amphion  and  Zethus.  The  myth  of  the  sons  of  Antiope, 
like  that  of  Hypsipyle  and  Archemoros,  was  made  popular 
by  a  tragedy  of  Euripides,  who  contrasted  the  musician 
Amphion,  to  the  strains  of  whose  lyre  the  walls  of  Thebes 
arose,  with  the  hunter  Zethus.  Our  relief  might  serve  as  an 
illustration  of  his  play.  The  contrast  between  two  types  of 
character  is  as  clearly  marked  here  as  ii|^  the  figures  of 
Odysseus  and  Diomed  in  No.  4. 

8.  Daedalus  and  Pasiphae.  Daedalus  has  made  the  wooden 
cow  for  Pasiphae,  the  queen  of  Minos,  and  is  seated  beside 
his  handiwork.  The  subject  is  one  familiar  from  Pompeian 
paintings.  The  want  of  dramatic  action,  and  the  choice  of  a 
subject  so  repugnant  to  modern  taste,  are  characteristic  of 
the  mythological  art  of  the  Early  Empire. 

In  the  picture-gallery  of  the  palace  is  a  seated  statue 
which  was  long  believed  to  be  that  of  Aristotle.  Not  only, 
however,  does  the  head — a  Roman  portrait — not  belong  to 
the  statue,  but  the  inscription,  of  which  the  first  five  letters 
can  be  read,  should  be  completed — Arist[ippo]s.  Thus  the 
statue — in  itself  a  fine  piece  of  work — represented  the  pupil 
of  Socrates  and  founder  of  the  Cyrenaic  school  of  philosophy. 

Leaving  the  Palazzo  Spada,  we  make  our  way  past  the 
Palazzo  Farnese,  the  Campo  di  Fiore  and  the  Cancelleria  to 
the  Corso  Vittorio  Emanuele,  beyond  which  lies  the  region 
occupied  by  the  buildings  of  Augustus,  Agrippa,  and  the 
Flavian  emperors.  Crossing  the  small  Piazza  of  S.  Pantaleo 
and  turning  to  the  L.  we  .see,  at  the  angle  of  the  Palazzo 
Braschi,  the  sadly  mutilated  remains  of  a  sculptured  group 
famous  under  the  name  of  Pasquino,  borrowed  from  a  shoe- 
maker near  whose  house  it  was  brought  to  light.  The 
satirical  epigrams  which  were  posted  on  it  when  it  was  set 
up  in  its  present  position  generally  found  their  replies  on  the 


172  THE  CAMPUS  MARTI  US  [ix. 

Marforio  (see  p.  104).  The  group  was  evidently  a  famous 
one,  since  two  replicas— both  discovered  in  Rome— exist  in 
Florence,  and  fragments  of  two  more  are  in  the  Vatican 
(p.  294).  Both  of  these  last  replicas  were  found  in 
Hadrian's  Villa  at  Tivoli.  The  group  represented  Menelaus 
in  the  act  of  letting  slip  the  body  of  Patroclus,  which  he 
was  endeavouring  to  rescue  from  the  advancing  Trojans,  in 
order  to  defend  himself  against  the  enemy.  The  pyramidal 
outline  of  the  group,  the  contorted  pose  of  the  limbs  of 
Patroclus,  and  the  realistic  treatment  of  the  nude— to  appre- 
ciate which  the  Vatican  fragments  must  be  studied — point 
to  the  Hellenistic  age  as  the  date  of  the  original. 

Turning  to  \}%  R.  we  find  ourselves  almost  at  once  in  the 
Piazza  Navona,  or,  as  it  is  now  officially  called,  Circo 
Agonale,  which  preserves  the  form  (though  nothing  more) 
of  the  Stadium  of  Domitian,  once  numbered  amongst  the 
finest  buildings  of  Rome,  which  served  as  a  temporary  amphi- 
theatre when  the  Colosseum  was  damaged  by  fire  (p.  243). 
Crossingits  southern  end  and  following  the  Via  dei  Canestrari, 
we  pass  the  University,  turn  to  L.  by  Piazza  S.  Eustachio, 
and  through  Via  della  Palombella  reach  the  back  of  the 
Pantheon.  We  may  first  glance  at  the  remains  of  the 
Baths  of  Agrippa,  which  are  to  be  seen  at  the  rear  of  the 
building.  They  were  excavated  in  188 1-2,  and  the  architec- 
tural fragments  have  been  as  far  as  possible  replaced  in 
position,  so  that  we  can  form  some  idea  (though  an  imperfect 
one)  of  the  great  hall,  with  a  large  apse  or  exedra  (added  by 
Hadrian)  immediately  behind  the  Pantheon,  and  its  columns 
oi  pavonazzetto  and  red  granite  bearing  an  entablature  of 
Pentelic  marble  (notice  the  frieze  of  dolphins  and  tridents).* 

We  observe  in  passing  that  this  hall  has  no  connection 
with  the  Pantheon  :  the  cross-walls  between  the  two  merely 
served  the  purpose  of  buttresses.  The  exterior  of  the 
rotunda,  now  denuded  of  its  decoration,  is  bare  and  un- 

*  Some  remains  of  a  domed  hall  belonging  to  the  Baths  of 
Agrippa,  called  the  Arco  della  Ciambella,  may  be  seen  in  the 
neighbouring  street  of  that  name. 


IX.]  THE   CAMPUS  MARTIUS  173 

attractive  ;  it  is  divided  into  four  zones  by  plain  cornices. 
Only  the  lowest  of  these  was  faced  with  marble,  the  others 
were  decorated  in  stucco.  It  was  roofed  with  tiles  of  gilt 
bronze,  removed  to  Constantinople  by  the  Byzantine  Em- 
peror, Constans  II,  in  A.D.  662.  Notice  in  passing  that  the 
walls  of  the  vestibule  are  not  bonded  with  those  of  the 
rotunda.  This  has  given  rise  to  the  notion  that  the  two  are 
not  contemporary  ;  but  they  have  been  shown  to  rest  on  the 
same  foundations.  The  portico,  again,  with  its  sixteen 
columns  of  red  and  grey  granite,  is  quite  separate  from  the 
vestibule,  and  is  built  on  distinct  foundations.  We  first  of  all 
notice  the  inscription  on  the  frieze,  "M.  AGRIPPA  L.  F.  COS. 
TERTIVM  FECIT  "  ("  Marcus  Agrippa,  son  of  Lucius,  consul 
for  the  third  time,  built  it")  which  with  its  bold  lettering 
dwarfs  the  longer  inscription  on  the  architrave,  recording  the 
restoration  of  the  building  by  Septimius  Severus  and  Cara- 
calla  in  A.D.  202.  It  was  only  natural  that  the  first  of  these 
inscriptions  should  be  taken  in  its  obvious  sense,  and  that 
the  whole  building  as  it  now  stands  should  be  identified  with 
the  Pantheon,  or  "  all-holy  "  temple  of  Mars,  Venus,  and  the 
other  divine  protectors  of  the  Julian  house,  built  by  Ag^rippa, 
the  general  and  adviser  of  Augustus,  at  the  same  time  as  his 
Baths,  in  the  year  27  B.C.  True,  we  were  told  by  ancient 
writers  that  this  building  was  burned  in  the  great  fire  of 
A.D.  80  and  restored  by  Domitian,  and  that  the  restored 
Pantheon  was  struck  by  lightning  and  again  burned  under 
Trajan  in  A.D.  1 10,  to  be  once  more  restored  by  Hadrian.  But 
it  was  thought  that  the  design  of  the  great  rotunda  had  been 
the  same  throughout,  and  that  successive  restorations  had 
only  affected  the  details  of  its  decoration.  In  1892,  however, 
a  thorough  investigation  of  the  structure  showed  that 
throughout  the  building — particularly  in  the  relieving  arches 
upon  which  its  stability  depended — stamps  of  Hadrian's 
reign  (and  no  others)  are  found  on  the  bricks.  It  is 
therefore  certain  that  Hadrian  was  the  builder  of  the 
rotunda ;  and  it  is,  moreover,  almost  certain  that  the  first 
building  on  the  site — that  of  Agrippa — was  not  circular  in 
form.     Six  or  seven  feet  beneath  the  floor  of  the  rotunda  are 


174  THE  CAMPUS  MARTIUS  [ix. 

the  remains  of  a  pavement  of  coloured  marble,  which  once 
covered  a  larger  area,  for  it  was  removed  when  the  circular 
foundation  was  laid,  and  can  be  traced  beneath  the  portico. 
It  would  seem  that  this  was  an  open  space,  for  there  are  no 
traces  of  walls  or  foundations  :  on  the  other  hand,  foundation- 
walls  have  been  discovered  beneath  the  front  row  of  columns 
and  in  the  piazza  which  belonged  (as  it  would  seem)  to  a 
rectangular  building  facing  southward  with  a  projecting 
portico  like  that  of  the  Temple  of  Concord  (p.  48)  ;  and 
this  may  have  been  the  form  of  Agrippa's  building,  which 
would  then  have  covered  the  space  now  occupied  by  the 
piazza.  There  are  also  reasons  for  thinking  that  the  raking 
cornices  of  the  pediment  are  set  at  a  steeper  angle  than  that 
for  which  they  were  originally  made  ;  in  other  words,  that 
the  portico  of  Agrippa's  building  had  ten^  not  eight,  columns 
in  the  front,  and  that  when  re-erected  by  Hadrian  to  face  N. 
instead  of  S.,  it  was  reduced  in  breadth.  In  front  of  this 
new  Pantheon  was  a  large  piazza,  paved  with  travertine  and 
surrounded  with  porticoes.  Between  this  piazza  and  the 
Stadium  of  Domitian  were  the  Baths  of  Nero,  afterwards 
restored  by  Severus  Alexander  and  known  by  his  name  :  no 
remains  of  these  are  now  visible. 

We  now  enter  the  rotunda,  noticing  on  either  side  of  the 
vestibule  the  niches  in  which  colossal  statues  of  Augusta  and 
Agrippa  once  stood.  As  a  Christian  church,  dedicated  to 
the  memory  of  all  the  martyrs  of  Rome  by  Boniface  IV  in 
A.D.  609,  as  containing  the  tomb  of  Raphael  and  many  other 
painters,  and  as  the  last  resting  place  of  the  kings  of  United 
Italy,  the  Pantheon  has  its  several  interests  for  diverse  types 
of  travellers.  But  it  is,  above  all,  the  most  perfect  monument 
of  the  architecture  of  Imperial  Rome.  To  understand  its 
place  in  the  history  of  art  some  knowledge  of  that  history  is 
needed ;  as  to  this  see  what  is  said  on  p.  23.  Moreover, 
the  system  of  arches  and  piers  by  which,  when  it  was  raised 
by  Hadrian's  architects  and  probably  to  the  Emperor's  own 
designs,  its  stability  was  assured,  is  entirely  concealed  by  the 
internal  decoration,  and  even  this  has  been  modernised  from 
top  to  bottom.     Nevertheless,  the  grandeur  and  simplicity 


IX.]  THE   CAMPUS  MARTIUS  175 

of  the  perfectly  proportioned,  self-contained  interior,  with  its 
single  opening  admitting  a  stream  of  light  sufficient  to  reveal 
the  whole  without  giving  a  disturbing  emphasis  to  any  of  the 
parts,  cannot  fail  of  their  effect.  The  dome  was  probably 
painted  blue  in  imitation  of  the  vault  of  heaven  and  studded 
with  golden  stars.  Beneath  the  bronze  cornice  there  was  a 
zone  of  decoration  formed  by  pilasters  and  slabs  of  porphyry, 
serpentine  and  coloured  marbles,  ruthlessly  destroyed  in 
1742  when  the  Pantheon  was  "restored"  by  Benedict  XIV  ; 
but  this  was  the  work  of  Severus  and  Caracalla,  and  it  is 
generally  held  that  in  Hadrian's  building  there  were  open 
lunettes  above  the  niches.  This  scheme  drew  attention  to 
the  fact  (which  is  concealed  by  the  present  decoration)  that 
the  drum  is  not  solid  throughout,  but  is  in  reality  resolved 
into  a  system  of  piers,  between  which  the  weight  of  the 
dome  is  distributed. 

Leaving  the  Pantheon  and  turning  to  the  R.,  we  come  to 
the  Piazza  della  Minerva,  which  takes  its  name  from  a  temple 
of  Minerva  built  by  Domitian,  who  left  his  mark  on  this  part 
of  the  Campus  Martins.  Besides  magnificent  temples  dedi- 
cated to  the  Egyptian  divinities,  I  sis  and  Serapis,  on  the  site 
of  which  several  of  the  Egyptian  statues  now  in  the  Museo 
Capitolino  were  found  in  1882,  he  built  a  colonnaded  en- 
closure with  shrines  of  the  deified  members  of  his  family 
(Vespasian  and  Titus)  known  as  the  Porticus  Divorum^  the 
position  of  which  is  given  by  a  recently  discovered  fragment 
of  the  Marble  Plan.  Following  the  Via  Pie  di  Marmo  we 
come  to  the  Piazza  of  the  Collegio  Romano  ;  and  in  this 
building  (entrance  in  the  side  street.  Via  del  Collegio 
Romano)  is  the  Museo  Kircheriano,  which  should  be 
visited  especially  by  those  interested  in  the  early  history  of 
Italy.  The  prehistoric  collections  are  contained  in  a  series 
of  small  rooms  which  are  reached  after  traversing  the 
ethnographic  museum. 

Room  27.  On  the  R.  are  flint  weapons  and  implements, 
which  show  that  Italy  was  the  abode  of  man  from  the  very 
earliest  period.  To  the  R.  of  the  entrance  are  implements  of 
the  Old  Stone  Age  ("  Palaeolithic  "  period)  found  in  the  gravel 


176  THE   CAMPUS  MARTIUS  [ix. 

of  the  Tiber  valley  near  the  Ponte  Molle  ;  Italy  has  so  far 
yielded  no  such  remains  of  the  artistic  handiwork  of  Palaeo- 
lithic man  as  the  designs  scratched  on  bone  which  have  been 
found  in  France.  In  the  far  corner  to  R.  are  implements  of 
the  New  Stone  Age  ("Neolithic"  period),  in  which  Italy 
appears  to  have  received  settlers  of  the  race  called  "  Mediter- 
ranean "  or  (in  S.  Europe)  "  Ibero-Ligurian." 

Room  28.  Contains  remains  of  this  period  from  the  Valle 
delle  Vibrata  on  the  Adriatic  coast,  where  hut-foundations 
have  been  discovered  belonging  to  every  stage  of  prehistoric 
development. 

Room  30.  On  the  R.  of  the  entrance  note  the  implements 
of  copper  and  obsidian  from  graves  in  Latium.  Copper 
was  the  first  of  the  metals  to  be  worked,  and  was  for  some 
time  only  used  in  its  pure  form. 

Room  31.  Here  we  meet  with  the  earliest  products  of  the 
Age  of  Bronze  (an  alloy  of  copper  and  tin),  with  which 
began  the  dawn  of  a  new  civilisation  in  Italy.  A  new  type 
of  dwelling  takes  the  place  of  the  half  buried  huts.  This  is 
the  pile=village,  found  in  its  earliest  form  in  and  about  the 
lakes  of  Lombardy.  The  remains  discovered  in  these  lake 
dwellings  (which  resemble  those  found  in  Switzerland)  may 
be  seen  in  this  room,  and  on  the  walls  of  the  passage  leading 
to  the  next  room  are  hung  plans  of  a  type  of  village  found  in 
great  numbers  in  the  valley  of  the  Po.  They  were  built  on 
dry  land,  but  on  a  platform  supported  by  piles  and  sur- 
rounded by  a  moat,  and  are  called  terremare^  since  they  have 
been  converted  by  gradual  decay  into  masses  of  rich  loam 
full  of  organic  remains.  They  were  all  mapped  out  on  a 
regular  plan,  and  there  can  be  no  reasonable  doubt  that  in 
the  race  which  introduced  this  methodical  system  into  Italy 
we  are  to  seek  the  ancestry  of  the  Romans.  It  is  also  clear 
that  the  immigrants  came  from  Central  Europe. 

In  Room  32  the  most  interesting  object  is  the  skeleton  in 
the  centre  case,  found  in  a  tomb  at  Sgurgola  in  the  Sabine 
hills  with  a  copper  dagger  and  stone  implements,  with  traces 
of  bright  red  pigment  on  the  skull.  It  is  very  generally  held 
that  the  primitive  people  of  Italy  removed  the  flesh  from  the 


IX.]  THE   CAMPUS  MARTIUS  177 

bones  of  their  dead  and  then  painted  the  skeleton  :  but  it  is 
possible  that  the  pigment  may  have  soaked  into  the  skull 
from  a  cloth  in  process  of  decay.  Note  that  the  Italians  of 
the  Bronze  Age  who  built  the  terremare  cremated  their 
dead.  On  the  wall  of  the  next  passage  is  a  photograph  of  a 
terraniara  with  several  piles  still  in  position.  The  bronzes 
and  pottery  found  in  these  villages  are  exhibited  in  Rooms 

33-35- 

Room  36.  Here  we  come  to  the  products  of  the  Early 
Iron  Age — the  period  which  brings  us  to  the  borderland  of 
history  proper.  The  remains  here  shown  were  found  in  N. 
Italy,  and  seem  to  give  proof  of  a  new  wave  of  immigration 
from  the  Danube  basin.  It  is  not,  however,  likely  that  the 
new-comers  were  of  a  different  race  from  the  inhabitants  of 
the  terremare^  whom  they  gradually  displaced.  The  use  of 
the  new  metal  and  the  improved  handicrafts  which  came  in 
its  train  soon  spread  through  the  peninsula  ;  no  doubt  there 
was  much  shifting  of  population,  and  the  Latins  seem  to 
have  established  themselves  in  the  Lower  Tiber  valley,  the 
Campagna  and  the  Alban  hills  at  this  time.  In  Room 
37  are  several  examples  of  two  distinct  types  of  urn,  made, 
of  the  blackened  clay  which  was  in  general  use  in  this  period, 
and  used  to  contain  the  ashes  of  the  dead.  One  is  called 
the  ''  Villanova  "  urn  from  the  site  of  an  early  cemetery  near 
Bologna  where  hundreds  of  these  objects  were  found.  It 
has  a  long  neck  in  the  shape  of  a  truncated  cone  and  a  squat 
belly,  and  was  often  closed  with  a  kind  of  saucer  used  as  a 
lid.  This  is  the  type  in  regular  use  to  the  north  of  the 
Apennines.  The  other  is  the  hut=urn,  which  in  various 
forms,  sometimes  nearly  circular,  sometimes  oval  and  some- 
times rectangular,  reproduces  the  dwelling-house  of  the 
living,  often  with  much  detail  which  helps  us  to  understand 
its  construction.  This  is  found  in  Tuscany  and  especially  in 
Latium.  All  its  varieties  may  be  studied  here  and  in  Room 
39.  Notice  in  Room  38,  on  the  L.  (beyond  the  window),  the 
products  of  this  period  found  in  the  Alban  hills,  which 
illustrate  the  relative  poverty  of  the  early  Latins  as  seen  in 
the  furniture  of  their  tombs. 


178  THE  CAMPUS  MARTIUS  [ix. 

In  Room  40  we  find  ourselves  in  presence  of  a  new  and 
much  richer  civilisation.  The  centre  case  contains  objects 
found  in  a  tomb  at  Palestrina  (the  ancient  Pr^neste). 
What  strikes  us  at  once  is  the  beauty  and  minuteness  of  the 
gold-work,  as  seen  in  the  plaque  adorned  with  131 
figures  of  lions  and  other  animals,  which  seems  to  have 
been  worn  on  the  breast  or  attached  to  a  girdle,  and  the 
cylinders  with  delicate  filigree  ornament.  Notice  too  the 
silver-gilt  bowl  with  six  snakes  as  handles,  decorated  with 
rows  of  beasts  and  birds  and  scenes  of  war  and  the  chase 
which  betray  their  Eastern  origin  by  the  use  of  the  palm  and 
the  papyrus.  Evidently  the  riches  of  the  owner  of  the 
grave  were  derived  from  commerce  with  the  East,  in  which 
Phoenician  traders  were  the  middlemen.  Other  bowls  of 
Phoenician  workmanship  (one  signed  by  the  artist)  like  those 
found  in  Cyprus,  will  be  found  in  the  window  case,  together 
with  the  most  interesting  object  of  all — a  ^al^  fibula  or  safety- 
pin  bearing  the  inscription  manios  med  fhefhaked 
NUMASioi,  "  Manius  made  me  for  Numasius."  This  shows 
us  that  native  artists  were  beginning  to  vie  with  the  crafts- 
men of  the  East  ;  it  is,  moreover,  the  earliest  monument  of  the 
Latin  tongue — with  the  possible  exception  of  the  inscription 
found  beneath  the  Black  Stone.  Notice  also  the  bronzes 
in  the  centre  case— a  tripod  with  three  human  figures  on  the 
edge,  a  stand  in  the  form  of  a  truncated  cone  with  reliefs, 
and  a  cauldron  with  griffins'  heads  for  handles — and  objects 
of  ivory  and  glass.  We  shall  meet  with  a  similar  treasure 
from  Caere  in  S.  Etruria  in  the  Vatican  (p.  344) ;  and  the 
great  expansion  of  Italian  commerce  and  industry  in  the 
seventh  century  (to  which  these  tombs  belong)  was  un- 
doubtedly due  to  Etruscan  enterprise. 

Turning  to  the  R.  we  find  in  Room  41  a  miscellaneous 
collection  of  Iron  Age  products,  and  in  the  centre  models 
of  megalithic  monuments  from  S.  Italy  which  resemble  the 
dolmens,  menhirs,  etc.,  of  northern  Europe,  and  seem  to 
have  been  the  work  of  a  people  who  crossed  from  Africa  in  the 
neolithic  age  ;  also  a  model  of  a  nuraghe  or  conical  tower 
(used  as  a  fortified  dwelling)  of  the  type  common  in  Sardini  . 


IX.]  THE   CAMPUS  MARTIUS  179 

The  following  rooms  contain  prehistoric  objects  from 
other  parts  of  Europe  and  from  the  New  World.  From  the 
corridor  (45)  we  pass  into  the  Museo  Kircheriano  proper, 
founded  by  the  learned  Jesuit,  Athanasius  Kircher,  who  was 
professor  of  mathematics  at  the  Collegio  Romano  in  the 
seventeenth  century.  For  the  Christian  monuments  m 
Rooms  51  and  52  see  Christia?!  Rome^  p.  70  fif. 

Room  52  contains  a  number  of  the  terra-cotta  slabs  with 
reliefs  made  from  moulds  of  which  we  have  already  seen 
examples  in  the  Palazzo  dei  Conservatory  The  designs  are 
of  great  variety.  Some  are  taken  from  well-known  motives 
of  classical  Greek  art,  such  as  the  Victories  sacrificing  bulls, 
which  are  the  commonest  of  all.  Others  may  have  been 
inspired  by  classical  painting,  such  as  the  mourning  Penel- 
ope or  the  washing  of  Odysseus'  feet.  The  Egyptian 
landscape  with  the  overflowing  Nile,  in  which  the  hippo- 
potamus and  crocodile  are  wallowing,  points  to  Alexandria  as 
the  home  of  this  manufacture.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
plaque  in  which  a  combat  between  lions  and  gladiators  in 
the  circus  is  represented  gives  proof  that  Roman  craftsmen 
contributed  their  share.  Notice  a  curious  oval  gravestone 
of  early  date  from  Novilara  near  Pesaro,  with  an  inscription 
in  the  local  dialect. 

In  Room  53  is  a  large  collection  of  ancient  Italian  and 
Roman  coins.  The  earliest  medium  of  exchange  consisted 
in  shapeless  lumps  of  bronze  {ess  rude),  which  was  weighed 
in  the  scales  at  each  transaction  ;  this  symbolical  sale  per 
aes  et  libram  was  retained  as  a  formality  in  conveyances  by 
later  Roman  law.  The  next  stage  we  find  stamped  ingots 
on  bars  {ces  signatum) ;  the  unit  {as)  was  the  pound  of 
copper,  and  this  was  gradually  reduced  when  true  coinage 
was  brought  into  circulation.  In  the  window  case  are  gems 
of  no  great  importance.  By  the  entrance-wall,  leaden 
tablets  inscribed  with  curses  which  were  buried  in  graves  ; 
also  a  collar  with  an  inscription  which  reads  :  "  I  have  run 
away,  catch  me  ;  when  you  have  restored  me  to  my  master 
Zoninus  you  will  get  a  solidus  "  ;  and  it  is  probably  that  of  a 
dog  rather  than  a  slave. 


i8o  THE  CAMPUS  MARTIUS  [ix. 

In  the  passage  are  a  few  ancient  sculptures  :  notice  the 
head  of  a  girl  in  green  basalt,  of  the  severe  fifth-century 
type  often  called  "Sappho."  Turning  to  the  L.  into  the 
corridor  (54)  we  come  to  a  miscellaneous  collection  of 
bronzes,  etc.,  the  most  important  of  which  is  the  round 
casket  found  at  Praeneste  and  usually  called  the  Ficoroni 
cista.  On  the  handle-plate  is  an  inscription  of  the  third 
century  B.C.,  which  read  as  follows  :  "  Novios  Plautios  made 
me  at  Rome,  Dindia  Magolnia  gave  me  to  her  daughter.'' 
The  casket  is  therefore  the  work  of  a  Roman  artist ;  and 
so,  no  doubt,  are  the  feet  in  the  shape  of  lions  trampling 
upon  frogs,  the  relief-plates  upon  which  Eros  is  represented 
between  Heracles  and  lolaus  by  means  of  which  the  feet 
are  attached  to  the  body,  and  the  handle  in  the  form  of  a 
group  of  Dionysus  with  two  Satyrs.  But  the  engravings 
on  the  body  of  the  chest  seem  to  be  by  another  hand, 
probably  that  of  a  Greek  workman.  The  legend  which  they 
portray  is  taken  from  the  story  of  the  Argonauts,  who,  on 
their  voyage  to  Colchis  in, quest  of  the  Golden  Fleece, 
landed  in  Bithynia  to  draw  water  and  were  met  by  Amycus, 
king  of  the  Bebryces,  who  had  hitherto  challenged  all 
strangers  to  box  with  him  and  killed  them,  but  now  met  his 
match  in  Poly  deuces  (Pollux),  whose  victory  was  foretold 
by  the  local  demon  Sosthenes.  The  central  group  is  that 
of  Polydeuces  binding  Amycus  to  a  tree,  at  the  foot  of 
which  is  his  boy-squire,  wrapped  in  his  master's  cloak  and 
carrying  his  shoes  and  scraper  ;  an  oil-flask  and  a  pick  for 
loosening  the  earth  before  the  fight  lie  beside  him.  To  the 
R.  is  Athena,  the  protectress  of  the  Argonauts,  and  above 
her  head  a  flying  Victory  bearing  a  wreath.  On  either  side 
of  the  group  are  two  spectators  :  to  R.  Jason  seated,  and 
Heracles  standing  with  his  back  to  us  ;  to  L.  one  of  the 
Bebrycians  seated  on  an  amphora  and  the  winged  demon 
Sosthenes.  Further  to  R.  we  see  the  good  ship  Argo  and 
her  crew,  and  beyond  them  the  spring,  beside  which  is 
seated  an  old  Satyr  drumming  on  his  paunch  whilst  an 
Argonaut  plays  at  punch-ball.  The  circle  is  completed 
by  four  figures — a  youth  holding  an  amphora,  the  reclining 


IX.]  THE  CAMPUS  MARTIUS  i8i 

figure  of  a  local  divinity  (wearing,  as  we  must  note,  the 
Italian  bulla  qx  amulet  round  his  neck),  and  two  Argonauts, 
one  whose  cap  marks  him  as  Castor  and  another  who  places 
his  arm  about  his  neck.  The  whole  is  well  worthy  of 
study,  because  in  all  probability  it  preserves  the  outlines  of 
of  a  composition  belonging  to  the  classical  period  of 
Greek  painting.  The  subject  reminds  us  of  the  fresco 
of  the  "  Return  of  the  Argonauts,"  painted  by  Micon,  an 
Athenian  painter  of  the  time  of  Phidias,  in  the  temple  of 
the  Dioscuri  (Castor  and  Polydeuces)  at  Athens  ;  and  we 
may  perhaps  catch  some  faint  echoes  of  his  style  in  this 
work,  with  its  severe  linear  design  and  study  of  the  nude  in 
various  poses — both  features  which  mark  fifth-century 
painting. 

Amongst  the  minor  objects  in  this  room  note  four  silver 
goblets  found  at  Vicarello,  an  ancient  watering-place  with 
natural  hot  springs.  They  are  in  the  form  of  milestones, 
and  give  the  names  of  the  principal  posting-stations,  with 
distances,  on  the  route  from  Gades  (Cadiz)  to  Rome. 

Leaving  the  Museum,  we  find  ourselves  within  a  few 
paces  of  the  Corso,  which  follows  the  line  of  the  Via  Lata 
or  "  Broad  Street,"  continued  by  the  Via  Flaminia,  the  main 
route  from  Rome  to  the  N.  Close  to  the  church  of  S. 
Maria  in  Via  Lata  (on  our  R.)  a  triumphal  arch  of  Diocletian 
spanned  the  Via  Lata ;  it  was  destroyed  at  the  close  of  the 
fifteenth  century  by  Innocent  VIII.  Beneath  this  church 
and  the  neighbouring  Palazzo  Doria  have  been  found 
remains  of  the  piers  which  supported  the  ScEpta  Julia^  or 
polling-booths  planned  by  Caesar  and  completed  by  Agrippa 
in  26  B.C.  Since  the  assembly  of  the  people  gradually 
ceased  to  perform  any  but  formal  functions,  the  building 
was  turned  to  other  uses  and  became  a  kind  of  bazaar.  It 
extended  from  the  modern  Piazza  di  Venezia  almost  as  far 
as  the  Piazza  Sciarra.  In  this  latter  spot  stood  a  second 
triumphal  arch,  built  by  Claudius  to  commemorate  his 
conquest  of  Britain.  Some  remains  of  this  arch  and  frag- 
ments of  the  inscription  (the  largest  of  which  is  in  the 
garden  of  the  Palazzo  Barberini)  were  found  in  the  sixteenth 


i82  THE  CAMPUS  MARTIUS  [ix. 

and  seventeenth  centuries.  The  Aqua  Virgo,  an  aqueduct 
built  by  Agrippa  to  feed  his  baths,  was  carried  over  the  arch. 
(Another  arch  of  this  aqueduct,  bearing  an  inscription  of 
Claudius,  is  still  to  be  seen  in  Via  del  Nazzareno,  some 
distance  to  the  N.) 

The  next  turning  to  the  L.  is  the  Via  di  Pietra,  which 
takes  us  into  the  Piazza  di  Pietra,  where  we  see  on  the  L. 
the  remains  of  an  ancient  building,  viz.  a  row  of  eleven 
Corinthian  columns  bearing  a  rich  entablature,  built  into 
what  is  now  the  Stock  Exchange  of  modern  Rome  (it  was 
until  lately  a  Custom  House).  The  columns  stood  on  a 
high  substructure  ox  podium  which  is  now  buried,  and  this 
was  decorated  with  the  reliefs  of  provinces  and  trophies 
which  we  saw  in  the  courtyard  of  the  Palazzo  dei  Con- 
servatori  (p.  131).  It  has  generally  been  held  that  this  was 
the  Basilica  of  Neptune,  built  by  Agrippa  in  25  B.C.  in 
honour  of  the  naval  victories  of  Augustus,  and  (as  is 
supposed)  restored  by  Hadrian  after  it  had  been  burned  in 
the  great  fire  of  a.d.  80.  It  seems,  however,  more  likely 
that  it  was  the  Temple  of  Hadrian  built  by  Antoninus  Pius 
and  dedicated  in  A.D.  145. 

From  the  Piazza  di  Pietra  the  Via  dei  Bergamaschi  takes 
us  to  the  Piazza  Colonna,  in  the  centre  of  which  rises  the 
Column  of  Marcus  Aurelius.  The  wars  which  it  com- 
memorates were  closed  by  the  triumph  celebrated  by  the 
Emperor  in  September,  A.D.  176;  but  there  is  reason  to 
think  that  many  years  elapsed  before  the  column  was  com- 
pleted. Like  the  column  of  Trajan,  of  which  it  was  an 
imitation,  it  was  100  feet  in  height,  not  including  the 
pedestal,  which  was  once  adorned  with  reliefs,  all  trace  of 
which  was  removed  when  the  column  was  restored  in  1589 
by  the  order  of  Sixtus  V.  The  statues  of  M.  Aurelius  and 
his  Empress,  Faustina  the  younger,  which  had  long  since 
disappeared,  were  then  replaced  by  a  figure  of  St.  Paul. 
The  reliefs  of  the  spiral  band  which  encircles  the  column 
in  twenty-three  windings  are  much  inferior  in  execution  to 
those  of  Trajan's  column,  and  are  also  more  difficult  of 
interpretation.    In  the  first  place,  they  have  suffered  severely 


IX.]  THE  CAMPUS  MARTIUS  183 

from  fire  and  earthquake,  and  have  been  replaced  in  many- 
parts  by  modern  figures  (generally  easy  to  distinguish). 
Moreover,  if  we  know  but  little  of  Trajan's  campaigns  in 
Dacia,  we  know  far  less  of  the  wars  waged  by  M.  Aurelius 
on  the  Danube — at  least  as  regards  their  strategy :  some 
incidents  are  recorded  by  ancient  writers,  and  the  most 
famous  (to  be  mentioned  presently)  is  represented  on  the 
column. 

In  A.D.  166  the  barbarians  living  to  the  N.  of  the  Upper 
Danube  crossed  the  river,  and  made  an  inroad  into  Roman 
territory,  crossing  the  eastern  Alps  and  penetrating  as  far 
as  the  Adriatic.  Both  M.  Aurelius  and  his  colleague  Verus 
took  the  field,  and  the  invasion  was  checked  ;  but  after  the 
death  of  Verus,  Marcus  was  obliged  to  take  command  on 
the  Danube,  making  his  base  at  Carnuntum  (not  very  far 
from  Vienna),  and  to  carry  the  war  into  the  enemy's  couptry 
in  the  valleys  of  the  March  and  the  Gran.  This  "  Germanic 
war  "  lasted  for  three  years  (a.d.  17 1-3))  and  was  followed  by 
a  "  Sarmatic  war,"  waged  against  the  tribes  who  occupied 
the  district  between  the  Danube  and  the  Theiss  (now 
Hungary).     Here  he  was  again  victorious  (a.d.  174-5). 

These  are  the  wars  of  which  the  story  is  told  on  this 
column.  Just  as  on  Trajan's  column,  a  figure  of  Victory  * 
separated  the  narrative  of  the  First  Dacian  War  from  that 
of  the  Second,  so  here  the  "  Germanic "  and  "  Sarmatic " 
campaigns  are  divided  in  the  same  way.  But  we  cannot 
extract  a  coherent  narrative  of  either  series  of  operations 
from  the  reliefs,  which  seem  rather  to  present  typical 
episodes  of  the  struggle.  We  can  also  trace  direct  imita- 
tion of  the  reliefs  of  Trajan's  column,  especially  in  the 
opening  scene,  which  shows  the  bridge  of  boats  at  Car- 
nuntum. The  most  interesting  scene  (in  the  third  winding) 
is  the  Miracle  of  the  Rain,  which  is  associated  in  Christian 
tradition  with  the  story  of  the  Thundering  Legion,  whose 
prayers  unlocked  the  windows  of  heaven.  On  the  pagan 
monument  we  see  a  colossal  winged  figure  of  Jupiter 
Pluvius  dripping  torrential  rains  from  his  arms  and  hair, 
which  bring  jrefreshment  to  the  thirsty  Romans,  but  sweep 


i84  THE   CAMPUS  MARTIUS  [ix. 

their  enemies  away  in  destruction.  Nor  was  this  the  only 
legend  depicted  on  the  column.  On  a  lower  winding  we 
see  the  collapse  of  a  huge  wooden  scaffolding,  by  means  of 
which  the  Germans  have  attempted  to  scale  the  walls  of  a 
Roman  fort.  It  has  been  set  ablaze  by  a  thunderbolt,  and 
we  are  reminded  of  the  story  told  by  the  biographer  of 
Marcus  Aurelius  that  "  by  his  prayers  he  wrung  from 
heaven  a  bolt  launched  against  the  enemy's  engine."  The 
principles  of  relief  are  not  so  well  understood  as  they  were 
by  the  sculptors  of  Trajan's  column,  and  the  figures  often 
seem  like  marionettes.  Notice  also  the  bird's-eye  perspec- 
tive in  which  rivers  are  shown. 

In  the  neighbourhood  of  the  colunm — we  do  not  exactly 
know  where — stood  the  Temple  of  Marcus  Aurelius.  Not 
far  off,  on  the  edge  of  the  mound  of  ruins  called  Monte 
Citorio,  upon  which  the  Chamber  of  Deputies  stands,  stood 
a  second  column,  set  up  in  honour  of  Antoninus  Pius.  This 
was  a  monolith  of  red  granite  :  its  sculptured  base  was 
removed  to  the  Vatican  in  1703  and  is  the  Giardino  della 
Pigna  (p.  331).  Close  to  it  was  the  Ustrinuin,  or  crematory, 
where  the  bodies  of  the  Antonines  were  buried. 

A  little  beyond  the  Piazza  Colonna  the  Via  in  Lucina,  to 
the  L.  of  the  Corso,  marks  the  spot  where  the  Ara  Pacts 
AugustcB  was  set  up  in  13-9  B.C.  to  commemorate  Augustus' 
safe  return  from  the  West  in  the  former  year  and  the 
pacification  of  the  Empire.  Its  remains  will  be  described 
later  (see  p.  204).  Some  of  the  sculptures  found  in  the 
excavations  of  1903-4,  which  revealed  the  plan  of  the 
monument,  still  remain  underground  and  beneath  the  water 
level,  which  has  risen  several  feet  since  the  beginning  of 
the  Christian  era. 

Somewhat  to  the  W.  of  the  Ara  Pacis  Augustus  laid  a 
great  pavement  of  white  marble,  which  served  as  a  sun- 
dial, with  gilt  lines  or  figures  of  the  Zodiac.  The  needle 
was  formed  by  an  obelisk  brought  from  Heliopolis,  which 
is  that  now  set  up  in  the  Piazza  di  Monte  Citorio. 

On  the  E.  side  of  the  Via  Lata,  opposite  to  the  Ara 
P<a.pis,  Aurelian  (a.d.  270-5)  built  a  ^reat  temple  to  the  Sun, 


IX.]  THE  CAMPUS  MARTIUS  185 

whose  worship  he  made  the  chief  State  religion.  Traces  of 
its  architecture  have  been  found  in  the  neighbourhood  of 
S.  Silvestro. 

[The  northern  and  western  parts  of  the  Campus  Martius 
were  left  comparatively  free  of  buildings  even  in  Imperial 
times.  Some  remains  of  the  Mausoleum  of  Augustus,  a 
circular  building  of  the  same  type  as  that  of  Hadrian,  with 
a  grove  of  cypresses  on  the  top,  from  the  base  on  which 
the  Anfiteatro  Chorea  is  raised.  On  either  side  of  the 
entrance  were  fastened  the  bronze  tablets  upon  which  was 
inscribed  Augustus'  record  of  his  achievements,  known  to 
us  from  the  Monumentum  Ancyranum,  a  copy  engraved  on 
the  walls  of  the  temple  of  Augustus  at  Ancyra  (Angora). 

The  Via  S.  Agostino  and  Via  dei  Coronari  preserve  the 
line  of  an  ancient  street  running  across  the  Campus  from 
E,  to  W.,  which  passed  to  the  N.  of  the  Odeum,  a  covered 
theatre  built  by  Domitian.  The  ruins  of  this  building  pro- 
bably helped  to  form  the  mound  called  Monte  Giordano. 

In  the  Corso  Vittorio  Emanuele,  between  the  Chiesa 
Nuova  and  the  Piazza  Sforza-Cesarini,  was  a  spot  called 
Tarentum  (the  name  is  obscure),  where  volcanic  phenomena 
were  observed  and  an  altar  of  Dis  (the  god  of  the  lower 
world)  was  built.  Remains  of  this  were  discovered  in  1888, 
and  not  far  off  were  found  the  marble  tablets  now  in  the 
Museo  delle  Terme  (p.  210)  upon  which  were  inscribed  the 
records  of  the  Secular  Games  celebrated  by  Augustus  and 
Septimius  Severus  :  some  of  the  ceremonies  connected  with 
these  games  took  place  by  night  at  the  altar  of  Dis.] 

In  the  Corso  Vittorio  Emanuele,  a  little  beyond  the 
Piazza  Sforza-Cesarini,  is  the  Museo  Barracco,  containing 
a  small  but  choice  collection  of  ancient  sculptures,  etc., 
formed  by  Senatore  Barracco  and  presented  to  the  Roman 
municipality.  This  collection  should  be  visited  by  all  who 
are  interested  in  ancient  sculpture,  since  almost  every  piece 
possesses  a  definite  interest  or  importance.^ 

In  the  first  room  we  have  on  the  R.  fragments  of  Egyptian, 
Babylonian,  and  Assyrian  sculpture  ;  amongst  these  is  one 

,^  Labels  are  provided  with  brief  indications  of  subject  and  date. 


i86  THE  CAMPUS  MARTIUS  [ix. 

belonging  to  Graeco-Egyptian  art  which  deserves  special 
notice.  This  is  the  basalt  head  to  R.  of  the  doorway  leading 
into  the  second  room — representing,  apparently,  a  Roman 
with  bald  skull  but  a  short  beard.  The  fillet  with  which  the 
head  is  encircled  has  a  star  in  relief,  and  it  is  mainly  on 
this  ground  that  it  has  been  identified  as  a  portrait  of 
Julius  C£esar»  since  it  cannot  be  said  that  the  features 
wear  any  close  resemblance  to  those  of  the  Dictator. 
Whether  this  surmise  be  right  or  not  the  head  is  amongst 
the  most  remarkable  examples  of  Alexandrian  sculpture. 

To  the  L.  of  the  same  doorway  are  a  few  characteristic 
examples  of  the  art  of  peoples  subject  to  Greek  influences. 
Close  to  the  door  note  a  female  head  from  Palmyra,  which 
no  doubt  dates  from  the  zenith  of  that  city's  fortunes  in 
the  third  century  A.D.  We  see  in  it  all  the  marks  of  that 
Oriental  spirit  which  stifled  the  development  of  Grseco- 
Roman  art  under  the  Roman  Empire — the  fixity  of  pose 
and  absence  of  expression,  the  love  of  ornament  for  its  own 
sake,  the  literal  rendering  of  details.  To  the  L.  are  painted 
terra-cotta  figures  from  Cyprus,  where  the  streams  of  cul- 
ture flowing  from  East  and  West  met  and  mingled,  and  in 
contrast  with  these  some  Etruscan  sculptures,  both  early 
and  late.  We  see  a  gravestone  from  Clusium  (Chiusi),  the 
home  of  Lars  Porsenna,  with  archaic  reliefs  in  the  style 
of  Greek  sixth-century  work,  beside  two  heads  in  volcanic 
stone  which  show  how  strongly  the  pathetic  element  in 
later  Greek  sculpture  appealed  to  the  Etruscans.  The  head 
with  snakes  coiled  about  the  hair  is  not  that  of  a  Greek 
Fury,  but  of  one  of  the  demons  with  which  the  imagination 
of  the  Etruscans  peopled  the  lower  world. 

In  the  centre  is  a  seated  statue  of  Apollo  and  a  torso 
from  a  copy  of  the  Amazon  of  Polyclitus  (see  p.  327)  ;  and 
on  the  table  are  two  heads  which,  though  not  of  great  merit, 
represent  two  famous  works  of  this  master — the  Doryphorus 
(on  which  see  p.  321)  and  its  companion-statue,  the  Diadu- 
menus,  or  youth  binding  a  fillet  about  his  head.  Beside 
them  is  a  double  herm  in  which  the  same  boy's  head  is 
twice  repeated.    It  belongs  to  the  Attic  school  of  the  earlier 


IX.]  THE   CAMPUS  MARTIUS  187 

part  of  the  fifth  century  B.C.  Polyclitus  is  also  represented 
by  the  statue  of  a  young  athlete  by  the  L.  entrance-wall, 
though  this  replica  may  be  derived  rather  from  an  adapta- 
tion of  his  work  by  an  Attic  artist  than  from  the  original. 
The  lost  R.  arm  probably  held  a  strigil  or  scraper.  Imme- 
diately to  L,  of  the  door  is  a  fragment  of  an  Attic  grave- 
relief  representing  a  knight  who  is  standing  beside  the 
horse  ridden  by  his  squire.  Above  it  is  an  Attic  athlete- 
head,  and  to  the  R.  a  copy  of  the  portrait  of  Pericles  by 
Cresilas  (p.  281).  On  the  long  shelf  are  several  heads  which 
illustrate  different  phases  of  fifth-century  sculpture.  Three 
of  them  represent  Athena  :  the  middle  of  these  is  in  the 
style  of  the  pediments  from  ^gina  now  at  Munich,  which 
date  from  the  time  of  the  Persian  wars,  and  the  male  head 
on  a  bracket  to  the  R.  belongs  to  the  same  school  of  art. 
The  large  female  head  (third  from  L.)  represents  the  early 
Peloponnesian  school ;  while  Attic  art  may  be  studied  in 
the  bearded  and  helmeted  head  of  a  general  and  the  so- 
called  Hephaestus  (second  to  R.).  In  the  L.  corner  notice 
a  fine  seated  grave-statue  of  severe  simplicity. 

In  the  second  room,  to  L.  of  the  entrance  (on  either  side 
of  which  is  an  Attic  sepulchral  vase)  we  see  a  hand  holding 
the  discus  which  belonged  to  a  copy  of  Myron's  discobolus 
(p.  219),  and  the  head  of  his  Marsyas  (p.  235)  is  on  the 
second  bracket  to  R.  of  the  door.  Farther  to  the  L.  again 
is  a  charming  bust  of  a  Roman  boy,  dating  from  the 
Augustan  period  ;  compare  it  (as  an  example  of  Roman 
portraiture)  with  the  beautiful  Attic  female  head  above,  and 
also  with  the  rugged,  realistic  head  of  an  old  man  which 
belongs  to  the  intervening  period.  On  the  shelf  are  two 
heads  of  Athena,  which  should  be  compared — one  archaic 
(to  R.),  the  other  with  Corinthian  helmet  (to  L.)  an  Attic 
type  of  the  Phidian  period.  A  head  cut  in  half  and  mounted 
as  a  relief  against  the  wall  is  very  hke  the  so-called  Brutus 
of  the  Room  of  the  Dying  Gaul  (p.  130).  By  the  end  wall 
on  the  L.  are  some  Greek  portraits — one  with  closed  eyes, 
which  may  represent  an  early  ideal  of  Homer,  then  Sophocles 
and  Euripides  (a  poor  copy).     By  the  end  wall  we  have  to 


i88  THE  CAMPUS  MARTIUS  [ix. 

the  L.  a  fine  fourth-century  athlete  head,  a  dancing  Satyr, 
and  two  statuettes  of  water-carriers  executed  in  rosso  antico 
in  Imperial  times  to  adorn  a  park,  but  derived  from  types 
of  the  age  of  Phidias.  We  then  come  to  two  heads,  one  of 
which  is  that  of  the  old  Centaur  in  the  group  described  on 
p.  121  ;  the  other  (female),  if  antique,  is  of  the  Pergamene 
school.  To  the  R.  of  the  glass  case  (which  contains  a  few 
vases  and  minor  objects)  is  a  head  of  Apollo  belonging  to 
the  type  which  we  have  seen  in  the  Capitoline  Museum, 
and  several  Attic  reliefs,  which  fall  into  two  classes — Tomb- 
reliefs,  of  which  the  commonest  type  is  that  of  the  funeral 
banquet,  and  Votive  reliefs,  in  which  we  see  human  figures, 
usually  on  a  small  scale,  in  the  presence  of  divinity.  These 
are  notable  as  showing  how  the  idealising  spirit  of  higher 
art  made  itself  felt  at  Athens  even  in  the  work  of  humbler 
craftsmen.  By  the  end  wall  on  the  R.  we  have  a  youthful 
head  belonging  to  an  athlete-statue  of  Polyclitus,  an  archaic 
figure  of  Hermes,  the  god  of  herds  and  flocks,  carrying  a 
ram  on  his  shoulder,  a  relief  of  a  Maenad,  and  a  portrait 
of  Demosthenes  (cf.  p.  326).  Finally,  by  the  wall  on  the  R. 
of  the  entrance  (from  L.  to  R.)  we  see  one  of  those  heads, 
like  that  in  the  Room  of  the  Dying  Gladiator  (p.  129)  which, 
if  not  actually  portraits  of  Alexander  the  Great,  represent 
the  Sun-god  with  the  traits  of  the  Macedonian  conqueror. 
Above  it  is  a  portrait  of  Epicurus  ;  and  on  the  shelf  are 
two  heads  in  which  Greek  and  Roman  ideals  are  contrasted. 
The  one  is  an  Apollo  of  the  close  of  the  archaic  period — 
one  of  the  purest  types  of  divinity  which  we  owe  to  the 
Greek  genius — the  other  a  Mars,  dating  from  the  reign  of 
Trajan,  with  figures  of  the  wolf  and  twins  on  the  fastening 
of  the  helmet.  In  the  centre  of  the  room  are  better  copies 
of  the  two  heads  by  Polyclitus  which  we  saw  in  the  first 
room,  and  a  fine  figure  of  a  wounded  dog  which  is  ascribed 
(perhaps  rightly)  to  the  school  of  Lysippus. 


X 

THE   EASTERN    HEIGHTS 

r  T  T  has  already  been  explained  that  the  hills  which  formed 
[_  X  the  higher  quarters  of  ancient  Rome  were  not  detached 
heights,  but  spurs  projecting  from  the  volcanic  tableland  to 
the  E.,  and  also  that  in  the  course  of  the  Imperial  period 
they  became  covered  with  parks  and  gardens,  most  of  which 
were  the  property  of  the  emperors.  Consequently,  although 
they  have  at  all  times  yielded  a  rich  harvest  of  works  of 
art — especially  in  the  years  following  1880,  when  many  of 
the  villas  of  the  Roman  aristocracy,  which  gave  to  the  hills 
something  of  their  ancient  aspect,  were  replaced  by  the 
unsightly  creations  of  the  speculative  builder — they  have 
comparatively  little  to  show  in  the  way  of  ancient  monu- 
ments.] 

The  Pincian  is  a  spur  about  half-a-mile  in  length,  pro- 
jecting from  the  tableland  first  in  a  westerly  and  then  in  a 
north-westerly  direction  until  it  comes  within  a  short  distance 
of  the  Tiber  :  it  thus  forms  an  important  link  in  the  chain 
of  defence  on  the  N.,  and  was  strongly  fortified  by  Aurelian 
(P-  357).  It  was  never,  however,  thickly  inhabited,  and  lay 
altogether  outside  the  "  Servian  "  enceinte.  Originally  known 
as  the  "  Hill  of  Gardens ",  collis  hortuloruin\  it  took  the 
name  which  it  now  bears  from  the  family  of  the  Pincii,  who 
became  the  owners  of  the  greater  part  of  its  surface  in  the 
fourth  century  A.D.  The  most  famous  of  its  parks  in  earlier 
times  were  those  of  Lucullus,  the  general  who  defeated 
Mithridates,  and  whose  luxury  passed  into  a  proverb,  which 
were  on  the  slope  where  the  Via  Gregoriana  ascends  to  the 
189 


I90  THE  EASTERN  HEIGHTS  [x. 

Trinity  dei  Monti,  and  those  of  the  Acilii  Giabriones,  a 

family  distinguished  both  under  the  Republic  and  Empire 
(when  they  played  a  part  in  the  history  of  the  Early 
Christian  Church),  which  occupied  the  site  of  the  Passeggiata 
del  Pincio  and  the  Villa  Medici.  The  traveller  who  visits 
this  villa  should  observe  the  numerous  fragments  of  ancient 
reliefs  which  were  used  in  the  sixteenth  century  to  decorate 
the  garden  front  of  the  building.  Notice  especially  (to  the 
L.)  a  Dacian  horseman  swimming  the  Danube,  with  the 
parapet  of  Trajan's  bridge  in  the  background.  This  be- 
longed to  the  Great  Frieze  of  Trajan's  Forum  (p.  163).  Some 
of  the  others — much  restored  in  plaster — have  been  sup- 
posed to  come  from  the  Ara  Pacis  (p.  204)  ;  but  the  recent 
discoveries  on  that  site  have  shown  that  this  is  wrong.  Two 
of  these  represent  temples  which  can  be  identified  by  their 
pediment-sculptures  (difficult  to  see  except  with  field-glasses) 
as  those  of  the  Great  Mother  (Cybele)  on  the  Palatine 
(p.  90)  and  of  Mars  Ultor  in  the  Forum  of  Augustus  (p.  152). 
Another  represents  an  emperor  (possibly  Claudius)  taking 
part  in  a  solemn  procession,  and  wearing  the  apex  or  close- 
fitting  spiked  cap  of  \hejlajnen.  In  the  garden  is  a  statue, 
the  head  of  which  is  a  replica  of  the  Meleager  of  the 
Vatican,  and  a  far  better  copy  than  that  in  the  Belve- 
dere. 

From  the  Trinitd  dei  Monti  runs  to  the  S.  the  modern 
street  (at  first  the  Via  Sistina)  which  under  various  names 
crosses  the  Quirinal,  Viminal,  and  Esquiline  together  with  the 
intervening  valleys.  Turning  to  the  L.  by  the  Via  di  Porta 
Pinciana  and  issuing  from  the  gate  of  that  name,  we  come 
to  the  Villa  Borghese.  Besides  the  picture-gallery  on  the 
upper  floor  of  the  Casino  Borghese  {Christian  Rome,  p.  340) 
there  is  a  collection  of  ancient  and  modern  sculpture  on  the 
ground  floor  which  is  well  worthy  of  a  visit :  although  many 
of  the  statues  are  only  decorative,  some  are  mere  imitations 
of  the  antique,  and  all  have  been  ruthlessly  restored. 

In  the  portico  are  some  fragments  of  large  reliefs  which 
represent  Roman  legionaries  and  standard-bearers  in  serried 
ranks,  the  back  rows  being  shown  above  those  in  front  of 


X.]  THE  EASTERN  HEIGHTS  191 

them,  according  to  the  methods  of  perspective  which  we 
observe  on  Trajan's  column.  These  were  formerly  sup- 
posed to  come  from  the  Arch  of  Claudius  in  Piazza  Sciarra 
(p.  181),  but  there  is  no  ground  for  this,  and  they  clearly 
belong  to  the  same  group  as  the  fragments  of  the  Great 
Frieze  from  Trajan's  Forum,  one  of  which  we  have  just  seen 
in  the  Villa  Medici.  The  ensigns  of  the  praetorian  guards, 
with  their  medallion  portraits  of  Imperial  personages,  are 
accurately  represented.  Notice  to  the  L.  a  torso  belonging 
to  a  free  copy  of  the  Athena  Parthenos — the  maiden  goddess 
of  Athens  who  gave  her  name  to  the  Parthenon — of  Phidias. 

On  entering  the  great  hall,  we  see  that  it  is  partly  paved 
with  the  fragments  of  a  large  mosaic,  discovered  in  a  villa 
near  Tusculum  (Frascati),  representing  the  gladiatorial 
combats  and  wild-beast  hunts  of  the  amphitheatre. 
Notice  the  inscriptions  giving  the  barbaric  names  of  the 
fighters,  the  beasts  represented — lion,  panther,  ostrich,  elk 
— and  the  fight  between  retiarii^  light-armed  gladiators 
with  trident  and  net,  against  the  vizarded  swordsmen  called 
secuiores.  Beside  the  prostrate  form  of  one  retiarius  named 
Cupido  we  see  the  Greek  letter  theta^  which  signifies  thanaios 
("death"). 

The  colossal  heads  and  statues  in  this  room  have  been  so 
much  restored  and  their  surface  so  thoroughly  polished  that 
they  can  hardly  be  considered  as  unadulterated  specimens 
of  the  antique.  Nevertheless,  they  give  a  good  impression 
of  the  style  of  work  with  which  the  halls  of  Imperial  palaces 
were  filled.  49  is  a  statue  of  Augustus  in  the  act  of 
sacrificing  ;  48  an  idealised  portrait  of  Hadrian  ;  50  a  head 
of  Antoninus  Pius,  possibly  modern  ;  39  is  a  nameless  Im- 
perial statue  with  the  eagle  of  Jupiter  (modern  head).  The 
colossal  satyrs  (36,  conceived  as  threatening  a  panther  with 
his  uplifted  crook)  and  45,  made  up  from  an  ancient  torso 
with  traces  of  the  tail,  have  considerable  decorative  effect. 
The  Meleager  (40)  is  much  inferior  to  the  Vatican  copy 
(p.  307).  Do  not  forget  to  notice  the  fragments  of  a  Bacchic 
frieze  (one  over  the  door,  others  inserted  in  the  bases  of 
36  and  49) :  it  is  an  elegant  piece  of  Hellenistic  design. 


192  THE  EASTERN  HEIGHTS  [x. 

In  the  first  room  to  the  R,  (in  the  centre  of  which  is 
Canova's  statue  of  Pauline  Borghese)  notice  on  the  entrance 
wall  (71)  a  relief  of  Artemis,  the  Nurse  of  Children  (dis- 
tinguished by  her  quiver-band  and  the  deer  at  her  side)  to 
whom  a  mortal  woman  is  handing  her  child.  It  is  an 
adaptation,  dating  from  the  classical  Renaissance  under 
Hadrian,  of  an  Attic  relief  of  about  400  B.C.  Opposite  we 
see  (64)  another  copy  of  an  Attic  relief,  representing  A|ax 
dragging  the  priestess  Cassandra  from  the  altar  of  Athena 
in  the  sack  of  Troy.  65  and  69  are  genre  statuettes  of 
street-boys,  such  as  were  used  for  the  decoration  of  gardens  ; 
58  an  example  of  a  type  of  Aphrodite  which  has  been  at- 
tributed to  Alcamenes,  the  pupil  of  Phidias. 

In  the  second  room  (which  contains  in  the  centre 
Bernini's  David,  one  of  the  least  melodramatic  and,  therefore, 
the  most  tolerable  of  his  works)  we  notice  a  large  sarco- 
phagus (79)  upon  which  the  labours  of  Hercules  are 
shown  in  compartments  divided  by  pillars  carrying  arcades. 
No.  5  c,  opposite,  is  the  back  of  the  same  sarcophagus.  On 
No.  79  is  a  cover  (80)  with  a  gracefully  conceived  relief 
representing  the  arrival  of  Penthesilea,  queen  of  the 
Amazons,  with  her  train  at  Troy.  She  is  greeted  by  Priam, 
and  beside  this  central  group  we  have  to  L.  Andromache 
and  her  child  Astyanax,  with  attendants,  and  to  R.  Hecuba, 
holding  the  urn  which  contains  Hector's  ashes,  and  Amazon's 
arming.  The  beautiful  female  head  (85)  belongs  to  the 
school  of  Phidias,  and  has  even  been  supposed  to  represent 
an  Aphrodite  by  the  master  himself.  By  the  entrance-wall 
is  (78)  a  herm  of  Pan,  as  to  the  type  of  which  see  what  is 
said  on  p.  337 ;  4  c  is  a  relief  from  the  cover  of  a  sarco- 
phagus, much  restored,  which  gives  the  story  of  Leto, 
mother  of  Apollo  and  Artemis,  who  are  seen  in  the  central 
composition  taking  their  places  amongst  the  Olympian  gods 
(represented  by  the  three  divinities  of  the  Capitoline  temple). 
On  the  L.  we  see  the  wanderings  of  Leto,  who  is  at  length 
welcomed  by  the  divinities  of  Delos  ;  on  the  R.  probably 
Iris  conveying  to  Olympus  her  appeal  for  the  aid  of  Ilithyia 
in  her  travail. 


\.]  THE  EASTERN  HEIGHTS  193 

In  the  next  room  notice  in  the  centre  Bernini's  "Apollo 
and  Daphne,"  a  work  of  the  sculptor's  eighteenth  year,  and 
compare  its  restless,  unrhythmical  lines  and  theatrical  spirit 
with  the  restraint  and  seriousness  of  ancient  sculpture. 
The  chief  statue  in  this  room  is  an  Apollo  (117)  of  "arch- 
aistic"  style.  The  other  works  are  mostly  decorative  genre 
sculptures,  the  best  of  which  is  the  (115)  boy  with  a  bird. 
The  marble  fountain  (107)  carved  in  imitation  of  a  sea- 
shore with  boatmen,  angler,  etc.,  no  doubt  stood  in  the  peri- 
style of  a  Roman  house. 

To  the  L.  we  pass  into  a  large  gallery  with  modern 
porphyry  busts  of  emperors,  and  a  large  porphyry  basin 
said  to  have  been  found  in  the  mausoleum  of  Hadrian. 
The  antique  statues  in  niches  are  unimportant. 

The  sleeping  Hermaphrodite  (172)  in  the  next  room 
will  be  better  discussed  in  connection  with  the  replica  in  the 
Museo  delle  Terme.  Notice  the  archaic  female  head  (181) 
which  may  be  an  early  Greek  original,  with  its  almond- 
shaped  eyes  and  the  grimace  which  does  duty  for  a  smile 
in  early  art.  176  is  a  modern  copy  of  the  bronze  in  the 
Palazzo  dei  Conservatori  (p.  144). 

In  the  centre  of  the  next  room  is  Bernini's  "^neas  carry- 
ing Anchises,"  his  first  important  work,  executed  when  he 
■  was  only  fifteen  years  old.  199  is  a  group  of  Asclepius,  the 
god  of  healing,  with  his  attendant  spirit  Telesphorus,  who 
presided  over  convalescence  ;  191  a  poor  replica  of  a  pretty 
garden-statue  which  served  as  a  fountain,  of  which  we  shall 
see  a  better  example  in  the  Vatican.  183  seems  to  be  a 
modification  by  a  later  artist  of  a  type  of  Athena  created  in 
the  fifth  century,  of  which  we  have  an  example  in  the  Museo 
Chiaramonti  (p.  320). 

The  group  in  the  middle  of  the  next  room  (a  Satyr  riding 
on  a  dolphin)  is  mainly  notable  because  it  served  as  the 
model  for  the  Jonah  designed  by  Raphael  now  in  S.  Maria 
del  Popolo.  Notice  216,  an  archaic  female  figure  (the 
head  is  somewhat  like  that  in  the  room  of  the  Hermaphro- 
dite) which  seems  to  be  an  original  of  the  earlier  part  of 
the  fifth  century  B.C.,  and  a  work  of  the  school  which  aimed 


194  THE  EASTERN  HEIGHTS  [x. 

at  severe  simplicity  of  drapery,  to  which  we  owe  the  statues 
in  the  Atrio  of  the  CapitoHne  Museum  (p.  105).  201  forms 
a  striking  contrast.  It  is  a  Maenad,  the  work  of  a  late 
Hellenistic  school  noted  for  refinement  and  ingenuity  in  the 
handling  of  drapery. 

In  the  last  room  stands  (in  the  centre)  the  statue  called 
the  **  Borghese  Satyr,"  The  arms  were  wrongly  restored 
by  Thorwaldsen  with  cymbals  ;  he  should  be  playing  on  the 
double  pipe.  The  statue  is  a  fine  example  of  the  work 
produced  by  the  school  founded  by  Lysippus  :  the  original 
was  of  bronze,  lightly  poised  (without  the  aid  of  the  sup- 
ports which  are  necessary  in  marble)  upon  its  dancing  feet. 
We  are  reminded  of  the  Marsyas  type  (cf.  p.  143),  but  can 
hardly  give  that  name  to  this  statue.  Notice  237,  a  seated 
figure  bearing  a  head  which  does  not  belong  to  it  (perhaps 
a  portrait  of  the  historian  Thucydides).  It  reminds  us, 
especially  in  the  drapery,  which  instead  of  covering  the 
knees  only,  as  in  statues  of  Zeus,  enwraps  the  lower 
part  of  the  body  of  the  so-called  Menander  of  the  Vatican 
(p.  292).  The  L.  hand  held  a  sceptre,  and  the  form  of  the 
throne  shows  that  a  ruler  or  statesman,  not  a  philosopher  or 
poet,  was  represented ;  but  it  is  very  possible  that  the 
original  head  was  in  this  copy  that  of  a  Roman,  though  the 
Greek  artist  created  the  type  for  a  Hellenistic  king.  Com- 
pare this  statue  with  No.  233,  which  represents  Pluto,  the 
god  of  the  lower  world— another  derivative  of  the  seated 
Zeus,  distinguished  by  the  figure  of  the  dog  Cerberus  seated 
beside  him,  and  the  wearing  of  tunic  as  well  as  mantle. 
232  is  a  good  replica  (head  restored)  of  the  "  Marble  Faun  " 
(p.  130). 


[The  Pincian  is  separated  from  the  Quirinal  by  a  valley 
occupied  in  ancient  times  by  the  Horti  Sallustiani^  or 
Gardens  of  Sallust,  which  also  extended  over  the  higher 
ground  of  the  modern  "  Ludovisi  "  quarter.  Julius  Cassar 
bought  and  laid  out  this  park,  which  lay  just  outside  the 
line  of  the  old  city  wall  along  the  crest  of  the  Quirinal,  and 


X.]  THE  EASTERN  HEIGHTS  195 

after  his  death  the  property  was  purchased  by  the  historian 
Sallust ;  it  soon  passed  into  the  hands  of  the  emperors.  It 
was  perhaps  the  finest  of  the  Roman  parks,  and  its  devasta- 
tion by  the  Goths  of  Alaric  in  A.D.  410  was  as  grievous  a 
calamity  as  that  of  the  Villa  Ludovisi,  which  took  its  place 
in  modern  times,  by  the  builders  of  the  new  residential 
quarter.  The  obelisk  now  standing  in  the  Piazza  of  the 
Trinity  dei  Monti  was  found  near  the  Casino  dell'  Aurora, 
and  other  finds  show  that  this  part  of  the  grounds  was  laid 
out  in  the  Egyptian  style.  In  the  valley  was  a  long  hippo- 
dromus  or  walled  garden  in  the  shape  of  a  race-course,  like 
that  of  the  Palatine  (p.  195),  with  fountains,  etc.  Almost 
all  the  remains  of  these  structures  have  now  been  destroyed, 
except  those  at  the  upper  end,  in  the  Piazza  Sallustiana. 
They  belong  to  a  nymphceiwi  or  large  fountain,  and  a  build- 
ing in  several  storeys.  A  temple  of  Venus,  built  in  181  B.C. 
in  honour  of  the  goddess  of  Mt.  Eryx  in  Sicily,  is  spoken 
of  as  outside  the  CoUine  Gate  and  in  the  Gardens  of  Sallust 
— i.e.  in  or  near  the  Via  di  Porta  Salara,  above  the  remains 
just  mentioned.  Under  the  Empire  it  was  much  beautified, 
and  became  a  fashionable  place  of  resort  for  the  demi- 
?nonde.  It  is  mentioned  here  because  the  Throne  of  Aphro- 
dite in  the  Ludovisi  collection  (p.  206)  has  been  supposed  to 
come  from  the  temple  :  but  this  conjecture  is  improbable 
since  the  throne  was  found  in  the  Via  Abruzzi.] 

We  may  commence  our  ascent  of  the  Quirinal  from  the 
Piazza  di  Venezia  by  the  Via  Nazionale.  Notice  the  remains 
of  the  Servian  wall  in  the  Piazza  Magnanapoli,  and  see 
what  is  said  as  to  them  (and  the  archway  in  the  Palazzo 
Antonelli)  on  page  355.  The  wall  skirted  the  Quirinal 
throughout  the  length  of  its  western  slope.  Turn  to  the 
L.  by  the  Via  del  Quirinale  leading  up  to  the  royal  palace. 
On  this  part  of  the  hill  were  famous  buildings  of  the  later 
Empire — the  temple  of  Serapis,  built  by  Caracalla,  and 
the  Baths  of  Constantine,  which  were  connected  by  porti- 
coes with  Caracalla's  building.  The  temple  of  Serapis  was 
to  the  W.,  and  its  remains  were  to  be  seen  in  the  Colonna 
gardens  until  the  seventeenth  century,  and  were  supposed 


196  THE  EASTERN  HEIGHTS  [x. 

by  the  scholars  of  the  Renaissance  to  be  part  of  the  Tower 
of  Mciecenas  from  which  Nero  watched  the  fire  of  Rome. 
Some  fine  architectural  fragments  of  the  frieze  and  pedi- 
ment are  preserved  in  the  gardens.  The  Palazzo  Rospigliosi 
marks  the  site  of  the  Baths  of  Constantine,  whose  longer 
axis  reached  from  the  Consulta  to  the  Via  Nazionale.  All 
remains  of  the  buildings  have  been  destroyed,  but  the  works 
of  art  which  can  be  traced  to  this  source  give  some  idea  of 
the  magnificence  of  its  adornments.  They  include  the 
torso  of  the  Belvedere  (p.  308),  the  bronzes  of  the  Museo 
delle  Terme  found  in  the  Via  Nazionale  (p.  211),  the  statues 
of  Constantine  and  his  sons  on  the  Capitol  and  in  the 
Lateran  (p.  104),  the  river-gods  of  the  Capitoline  piazza 
(p.  103),  and  the  Colossal  Dioscuri,  never  buried,  though 
probably  removed  from  their  original  position,  which  form 
so  conspicuous  a  landmark  in  the  Piazza  of  Monte  Cavallo. 
Although  they  are  works  of  the  Imperial  period,  they  are 
earlier  than  the  time  of  Constantine,  and  were  possibly 
plundered  from  some  other  public  building,  just  as  Trajan's 
Forum  and  an  arch  of  M.  Aurelius  were  laid  under  contri- 
bution for  the  adornment  of  Constantine's  arch.  We  must 
conceive  of  them  as  originally  not  free-standing  groups,  but 
as  placed  relief- wise  on  either  side  of  a  monumental  gate- 
way. Compare  the  Dioscuri  which  stand  at  the  head  of  the 
ascent  to  the  Capitol  piazza  (p.  103) :  the  Heavenly  Twins 
were  well  fitted  to  stand  thus  as  warders  of  the  gate.  On 
their  bases  are  the  inscriptions  OPUS  fidiae  and  OPUS 
PRAXITELIS,  which  can  at  the  earliest  belong  to  the  middle 
of  the  fifth  century,  when  the  Baths  of  Constantine  were 
restored  after  the  sack  of  the  Goths  ;  and  there  is  no  ground 
whatever  for  the  supposition  that  they  were  copied  from 
statues  by  Phidias  and  an  elder  Praxiteles,  grandfather  of 
the  fourth-century  artist.  Such  inscriptions  are  thought  to 
have  been  engraved  on  ancient  works  by  the  adherents  of 
decaying  Paganism  in  order  to  save  them  from  destruction 
at  the  hands  of  Christians  by  imparting  to  them  an  artistic 
value. 

The  Via  Venti   Settembre  follows  the  line  of  the  Alta 


X.]  THE  EASTERN  HEIGHTS  197 

Semita,  or  "High  Street*'  of  ancient  Rome,  where  were 
several  important  houses,  such  as  that  of  the  Flavians, 
converted  by  Domitian  into  a  temple  and  mausoleum  of  the 
Flavian  house.  This  seems  to  have  been  near  the  church 
of  S.  Andrea,  to  the  S.W.  of  which  were  found  the  remains 
of  a  colossal  altar  set  up  in  memory  of  the  great  fire  of 
Nero,  at  which  sacrifices  were  offered  yearly  to  Vulcan. 
Opposite,  in  the  Quirinal  Gardens,  was  the  temple  of  the 
Quirinus,  the  deity  worshipped  by  the  Sabine  settlers  on  this 
hill  (p.  6),  afterwards  identified  with  Romulus  ;  the  fa9ade 
of  the  temple  is  shown  on  a  relief  in  the  Museo  delle  Terme 
(p.  217).  At  the  northern  angle  of  the  Ministry  of  Finance 
was  the  Colline  Gate  in  the  old  wall,  which  here  turned 
sharply  to  the  S.  Here  was  fought  the  desperate  battle 
which  in  B.C.  82  made  Sulla  secure  in  Rome  and  crushed 
the  power  of  the  rebellious  Samnites,  headed  by  Sulla's 
great  rival  Marius.  From  this  gate  diverged  two  roads — to 
the  L.  the  Via  Salaria,  or  "  salt  road,"  by  which  the  produce 
of  the  salt  marshes  at  the  mouth  of  the  Tiber  was  carried 
up  to  the  hills  of  Central  Italy,  and  the  Via  Nomentana, 
which  pursued  a  somewhat  more  irregular  course  than  the 
straight  road  of  that  name  constructed  in  modern  times. 

The  Servian  embankment  and  walls  running  south  from 
the  angle  by  the  Colline  Gate  are  described  on  p.  355.  Out- 
side was  the  parade  ground  of  the  Praetorian  Guards,  whose 
barracks,  built  under  Tiberius,  were  used  by  Aurelian  as 
part  of  his  line  of  defence.     (See  below,  p.  359.) 

Within  the  embankment  the  plateau  from  which  the 
Quirinal  and  Viminal  hills  project  (in  the  dip  between 
them  runs  the  Via  Nazionale,  whose  course  approximates  to 
that  of  the  Vicus  Longus  of  antiquity)  was  covered  by  the 
Baths  of  Diocletian,  the  largest  and  most  magnificent 
building  of  the  later  Empire.  In  its  general  plan  it  was 
very  like  the  Baths  of  Caracalla  (p.  257),  the  remains  of 
which  may  serve  to  give  us  some  idea  of  its  proportions, 
which  are  nearly  the  same,  though  the  area  of  the  earlier 
building  is  rather  smaller.  The  outline  of  the  surrounding 
enclosure  is  easily  traceable.     In  the  centre  of  one  of  the 


198  THE  EASTERN  HEIGHTS  [x. 

longer  sides  was  the  great  apse  or  Exedra,  the  outline  of 
which  has  been  restored  in  the  modern  Piazza  dell'  Esedra  ; 
and  the  angles  are  marked  by  two  circular  buildings— one, 
converted  into  the  church  of  S.  Bernardo,  with  its  ancient 
cupola,  once  lighted  by  an  aperture  in  the  summit  like  the 
Pantheon,  the  other  built  into  a  house  in  the  Via  Viminale. 
Remains  of  the  S.E.  angle  have  been  found  in  the  Piazza 
dei  Cinquecento  at  the  corner  of  Via  Gaeta. 

The  remains  of  the  central  building  were  converted  into  a 
Carthusian  convent  by  order  of  Pius  IV,  who  commissioned 
Michelangelo  to  carry  out  the  design.  The  plan  of  the 
ancient  structure  was  made  the  same  as  that  of  the  Baths 
of  Caracalla — a  series  of  halls  flanked  on  either  side  by 
smaller  rooms  and  colonnaded  courts.  The  cold  bath  was 
to  the  N.E.,  and  is  entirely  ^festroyed.  The  hot  bath, 
according  to  rule,  faced  the  S.W.,  and  occupied  the  space 
between  the  modern  fountain  and  the  entrance  to  the 
church  of  S.  Maria  degli  Angeli,  built  by  Michelangelo. 
The  church  itself  has  two  parts— the  transept,  which  is 
simply  the  great  central  hall  of  the  Baths,  and  the  rotunda 
which  is  now  a  vestibule,  and  served  in  ancient  times  as  a 
passage  leading  to  the  hot  bath.  (Note  that  in  Michel- 
angelo's design  the  great  hall  was  the  nave,  not  the  tran- 
sept of  the  church  ;  in  its  present  form  it  dates  from  1742.) 
In  spite  of  its  modernisation,  the  great  hall,  with  its  vault 
in  three  bays  springing  from  eight  monoHths  of  grey  granite, 
is  to  be  studied  as  one  of  the  triumphs  of  Roman  architec- 
ture. The  other  remains  of  the  Baths,  now  in  private 
occupation  as  studios,  etc.,  are  to  be  cleared  and  made 
accessible. 

At  the  back  of  this  central  building  is  the  cloister  of  the 
Carthusian  convent,  which  has  been  turned  into  a  national 
museum  (Museo  delle  Terme).  The  collections  here  pre- 
served are  constantly  growing  in  importance  with  fresh 
discoveries.  The  entrance  is  to  the  S.  of  the  church, 
opposite  the  railway  station. 

Passing  through  the  entrance  hall  we  find  ourselves  in  the 
cloister,  round  the  walls  of  which  are  ranged  statues,  etc. 


X.] 


THE  EASTERN  HEIGHTS 


199 


By  the  west  wall  are  two  statues  of  a  Roman  named 
Sulpicius  Platorinus  and  his  wife,  found  in  the  burial-place 
of  their  family  in  the  Trastevere,  which  illustrate  the  con- 
ventional repetition  of  Greek  types  by  Roman  artists  of  the 
Early  Empire.  Other  objects  from  the  same  spot  will  be  seen 
upstairs.  Two  statues  by  the  same  wall,  discovered  in  the 
so-called  Stadium  of  the  Palatine  (p.  97),  show  us  the  kind 
of  decoration  found  in  the    Imperial   palaces.     One   is   a 


fAi  fii  rci  rV]  [ti 

Cloister 

11             |8|7|6i5    -^ 

Sramase 

• 

"  Buoncompaym 

Enirance 


MUSEO  DELLE  TERME    GROUND  FLOOR 


seated  nymph  ;  a  similar  figure  composed  as  a  pendant  to 
this  was  also  found  in  the  Stadium.  The  workmanship  is 
smooth,  but  lacking  in  Hfe  and  distinction.  The  other  is  a 
headless  female  statue  which  reminds  us  of  the  Hera 
Barberini  in  the  Vatican  Rotunda  (p.  278).  The  two  figures, 
however,  differ  in  many  details  which  reveal  themselves  on 
a  closer  inspection  ;  and  while  both  are  modifications  of  a 
fifth-century  ideal  type  of  Hera,  this  is  somewhat  nearer 
to  the  original.  The  copy  is  of  the  time  of  Hadrian,  and 
the  treatment  of  the  drapery  is  remarkably  skilful.     30  is  a 


200  THE  EASTERN  HEIGHTS  [x. 

graceful  statuette  of  Victory,  which  originally  had  wings 
of  bronze  inserted  in  the  shoulders.  The  headless  Heracles 
and  Apollo  with  tripod  were  found  in  an  ancient  villa  in  the 
Campagna  below  Marino. 

In  the  far  corner  notice  a  fine  specimen  of  the  Roman 
Corinthian  capital,  restored  and  mounted  on  a  shaft  of 
pavoitazzetto.  Here  we  turn  to  the  R.  On  the  N.  wall  open 
several  of  the  small  dwellings  assigned  to  the  Carthusian 
monks  ;  see  letters  on  plan. 

In  B  are  sculptures  found  at  Ostia,  the  port  of  Rome. 
In  the  centre  of  the  first  room  is  an  altar  with  reliefs.  It 
has  two  inscriptions,  one  simply  recording  its  dedication  to 
Silvanus,  the  other  giving  the  names  of  the  dedicants  and 
the  date  a.d.  124;  but  the  reHefs  have  nothing  to  do  with 
Silvanus,  and  the  altar  may  be  older  than  its  inscription. 
On  three  of  its  faces  we  have  subjects  taken  from  the 
conventional  Hellenistic  repertoire — Mars  and  Venus; 
Cupids  playing  with  the  war-god's  armour  and  seizing  the 
reins  of  his  chariot— on  the  fourth  a  purely  Roman  subject 
treated  after  the  methods  of  landscape  relief,  which  gives 
us  the  measure  of  the  native  artist's  power  of  invention. 
The  relief  is  in  two  zones ;  below  are  the  Wolf  and  Twins  and 
Father  Tiber  with  his  urn  ;  above,  the  shepherds  and  the 
youthful  god  of  the  Palatine  on  the  hill-top.  The  fancy  of 
the  artist  runs  riot  in  the  rocky  strip  which  separates  these 
zones,  which  is  instinct  with  animal  life — snake,  rabbit, 
lizard,  mouse,  and  snail,  as  well  as  the  eagle  of  Imperial 
Rome. 

Three  portrait  heads  in  this  room  should  be  noticed  as 
exemplifying  the  art  of  different  periods.  By  the  window 
is  a  hard-featured  Roman  of  the  latest  Republican  period ; 
to  the  left  an  excellent  portrait  of  Vespasian,  the  shrewd, 
close-fisted  money-lender's  son,  quite  as  unprepossessing  as 
the  first-named  subject,  but  rendered  with  just  the  happy 
touch  of  genius  which  makes  ugly  features  attractive  ;  lastly, 
in  the  corner,  a  head  labelled  Gordian,  and  certainly  belong- 
ing to  the  third  century  A.D.,  marking  the  decline  of  art. 

The  inscriptions  let  into  the  walls  of  C  and  D  are  of  great 


K.]  THE  EASTERN  HEIGHTS  201 

historical  interest.  They  were  found  in  the  grove  of  the 
Dea  Dia,  an  ancient  divinity  of  Mother  Earth  whose  rites — 
scarcely  understood  in  historical  times — were  celebrated  by 
the  Arval  Brotherhood.  This  priestly  college  was  revived 
by  Augustus,  and  its  chief  duty  became  the  offering  of 
prayers  and  thanksgivings  in  connection  with  important 
occasions  in  the  life  of  the  emperors,  who  were  always 
members  of  the  college.  We  are  thus  often  enabled  by 
their  records  to  fix  the  dates  of  historical  events.  The  text 
of  the  Hymn  of  the  Arval  Brothers,  one  of  the  earliest 
remains  of  the  Latin  language,  the  very  meaning  of  which 
was  probably  quite  unknown  to  the  Romans  of  the  Empire, 
is  preserved  on  a  fragment  in  the  Vatican.  The  inscrip- 
tions range  from  21  B.C.  to  A.D.  241. 

In  the  centre  of  Room  D  is  a  beautiful  altar  found  in  the 
bed  of  the  Tiber  and  decorated  with  naturalistic  plane-leaves. 
It  is  of  the  Augustan  period,  and  proves  that  beside  the 
classical  school  of  conventional  ornament  there  was  another 
founded  on  direct  observation  of  nature. 

In  the  inner  room  is  an  interesting  inscription  called  the 
Alimentary  Table  of  the  Ligures  Bcebiafii.  Under  the  en- 
lightened rule  of  Nerva  and  his  successors  loans  were  made 
by  the  Government  to  Italian  agriculturists  at  low  rates  of 
interest  on  the  security  of  their  land  ;  their  payments  were 
devoted  to  the  maintenance  of  poor  children.  In  the  present 
case  the  endowment  was  due  to  Trajan  and  dates  from  A.D. 
I  o  I .  About  ;^4ooo  was  lent  on  ample  security  (the  sum  repre- 
sented about  one-tenth  of  the  capital  value  of  the  land),  and 
the  interest  was  fixed  at  2  J%  (or  perhaps  5%  if  the  payments 
mentioned  were  half-yearly).  The  "  Ligurians  of  Baebius  " 
were  settlers  transplanted  by  the  consul  of  180  B.C.  from 
N.  Italy  (where  he  had  waged  war  successfully)  to  the 
neighbourhood  of  Beneventum  in  the  S.,  in  the  district 
once  known  as  Taurasia  and  mentioned  on  the  sarcophagus 
of  Scipio  Barbatus  in  the  Vatican  (p.  309),  who  conquered 
it  in  the  third  century  B.C. 

In  E  we  have  fragments  of  reliefs,  amongst  which  notice 
(by  the  L.  wall)  two  heroes  in  ambush,  perhaps  Odysseus 


202  THE  EASTERN  HEIGHTS  [x. 

and  Diomed  :  also  Cupids  driving  chariots  in  the  circus.  By 
the  window  is  a  charming  female  head,  which  once  belonged 
to  a  seated  figure  holding  the  distaff  in  a  famous  relief  of 
the  Three  Fates  dating  from  the  time  of  Praxiteles.  On 
the  R.  wall  is  a  relief  which  at  first  sight  appears  archaic 
in  style,  representing  Zeus  seated  on  a  throne  adorned  with 
the  figure  of  an  eagle  and  stretching  out  his  R.  hand  to  a 
worshipper  (mostly  destroyed).  The  inscription  tells  us  that 
it  was  dedicated  to  Zeus  Xenios,  the  god  of  hospitality,  and 
the  lettering  cannot  be  dated  earlier  than  the  first  century 
B.C.  It  is  a  work  of  the  school  which  imitated  models  ot 
the  "  severe  "  style. 

In  the  inner  room  to  R.  notice  a  fragmentary  relief  of  three 
female  figures  in  the  classical  style  of  the  fifth  century  B.C.,  re- 
minding us  of  the  treatment  of  drapery  of  the  chaste  simplicity 
of  the  Parthenon  frieze.  See  what  is  said  about  the  class  to 
which  this  relief  belonged  on  p.  233.  Very  different  is  the 
fragment  which  shows  Prometheus  chained  to  a  rock : 
this  is  a  significant  example  of  the  reliefs  of  the  later 
Hellenistic  period  when  the  element  of  landscape  was 
introduced.  Notice,  too,  by  the  window  a  fragment  which 
represents  a  philosopher  seated  in  the  attitude  of  meditation. 
The  inscription  names  him — Anaximander,  a  Milesian  of  the 
sixth  century  B.C.,  whose  daring  speculations  on  the  origin 
of  life  were  amongst  the  boldest  flights  of  the  new-born 
Greek  genius ;  he  held  that  "  living  creatures  arose  from  the 
moist  element  as  it  was  evaporated  by  the  sun,  and  that 
man  was  like  another  animal,  viz.  a  fish,  in  the  beginning." 
The  portrait  is,  of  course,  not  contemporary,  but  Hellenistic 
in  conception  ;  such  reliefs  as  this  were  used  for  the  adorn- 
ment of  libraries.  In  the  centre  of  the  room  is  a  statue  of 
a  boy-Satyr  who  has  just  become  aware  that  he  possesses  a 
tail  (now  lost)  and  is  trying  to  catch  a  glimpse  of  it— a 
charming  creation  of  the  Hellenistic  age. 

In  the  small  room  to  L.  is  a  beautiful  female  head  which 
has  been  sawn  in  half  with  a  mantle  wrapped  closely  round 
hair  and  chin.  This  too  belongs  to  the  third  century  B.C.  at 
earliest. 


X.]  THE  EASTERN  HEIGHTS  203 

In  the  passage  at  the  back  of  the  suite  is  an  architect's 
model  of  the  stage-buildings  of  a  theatre. 

In  F.  notice  a  relief  of  two  camilli  (cf.  p.  144)  on  the  L. 
wall.  To  L.  are  fragments  of  two  replicas  of  a  boy-Satyr 
playing  the  flute  (cf.  p.  no);  the  child  Dionysus  resting 
on  a  hand  belonged  to  a  statue  of  Hermes  of  which  a 
copy  {without  the  L.  hand  and  child  !)  exists  at  Madrid. 
The  composition  is  not  as  good  as  that  of  the  famous 
Hermes  of  Praxiteles  at  Olympia,  and  this  group  was 
probably  the  work  of  Praxiteles'  father,  Cephisodotus. 
Notice,  too,  the  female  head,  a  replica  of  that  of  the  so- 
called  Penelope  (p.  291),  the  torso  of  a  Satyr^  pouring  wine 
from  a  jug  held  in  the  uplifted  R.  arm,  a  Praxitelean 
creation  (to  be  compared  with  a  similar,  but  earlier,  figure  in 
the  L.  inner  room)  and  the  figure  of  the  Minotaur  between 
the  inner  doors.  In  the  room  to  R.  is  a  Hermes  of  fourth- 
century  style  and  some  "  archaistic  "  sculptures. 

In  the  corner  of  the  cloister  notice  the  large  mosaic  with 
a  scene  from  the  banks  of  the  Nile.  It  was  found  on  the 
Aventine,  and  shows  the  influence  of  Alexandria  on  this 
branch  of  decorative  art. 

In  the  N.  angle  of  the  cloister  has  been  placed^  (tempor- 
arily) a  statue  of  a  maiden  carrying  a  dish,  found  at  Porto 
d'  Anzo  (the  ancient  Antium),  where  it  had  stood  in  a  niche 
overlooking  the  sea.  It  is  copied  from  a  work  of  the  early 
Hellenistic  period.  The  drapery  is  disposed  with  the  art 
which  conceals  art,  and  the  slim,  girlish  figure,  intent  upon 
her  burden,  is  triumphantly  rendered.  On  the  dish  we  see 
a  roll,  a  bay-wreath  and  a  lion's  claw  which  may  have  been 
the  foot  of  a  casket  or  tripod.  It  has  therefore  been  thought 
that  the  maiden  is  a  poetess ;  but  it  is  more  likely  that  she 
has  taken  part  in  a  chorus  of  "  laurel-bearers  "  in  honour  of 
Apollo.  The  roll  would  contain  the  text  of  the  ode  which 
they  sang.     Others  think  that  the  statue  is  that  of  a  boy. 

In  the  E.  corridor  are  sarcophagi — one  adorned  with  the 
figures  of  a  mother  and  child,  another  with  that  of  a  man 
holding  the  bust  of  his  wife  in  his  hand,  a  third  (preserving 
^  This  is  now  upstairs. 


204  THE  EASTERN  HEIGHTS  [x. 

traces  of  colour)  with  a  marriage-group  in  the  centre  between 
female  figures  personifying  cities  and  provinces  important 
for  the  corn-supply  of  Rome  (e.g.  Alexandria  with  the 
Pharos  or  lighthouse  to  L.,  Africa  crowned  with  the  elephant's 
proboscis  to  R.).  The  baskets  of  corn  leave  no  doubt  that  the 
dead  man  was  a  high  official  charged  with  the  supervision 
of  the  annona,  or  provision  of  corn  for  the  Roman  people. 
In  the  corner  of  this  corridor  are  fragments  of  the  Ara 
Pacis  Augustse,  which  was  mentioned  on  p.  184.  This 
monument  deserves  attention  as  the  most  perfect  specimen 
of  the  new  Imperial  art  called  into  being  by  Augustus.  The 
altar  stood  in  an  almost  square  walled  enclosure  of  marble, 
the  sides  of  which  were  a  little  over  30  feet  in  length,  and 
this  was  decorated  in  relief  within  and  without.  Portions 
of  these  reliefs  have  been  found  at  various  times,  beginning 
from  the  sixteenth  century,  and  the  plan  of  the  monument 
was  recovered  in  1903-4  :  unfortunately  the  excavations  were 
suspended  from  lack  of  funds.  On  the  inside  the  boundary 
wall  was  adorned  with  festoons  of  fruit  and  flowers,  in  the 
"naturalistic"  style  of  which  we  have  just  seen  an  example  ; 
on  the  outside  the  decoration  was  in  two  bands.  Below  was 
a  system  of  conventional,  but  beautifully  designed,  scrolls 
of  vegetable  ornament,  springing  from  acanthus-plants,  but 
terminating  in  a  variety  of  forms  (peonies,  ivy-clusters,  etc.), 
and  enlivened  by  minute  figures  of  birds  and  insects  (frogs, 
lizards,  etc.) — the  whole  a  splendid  example  of  "  classical " 
ornament  with  a  touch  of  naturalism  in  its  details.  Above 
this  was  a  band  of  reliefs  of  great  historical  interest.  The 
enclosure  had  two  entrances — to  E.,  facing  the  Via  Lata 
(Corso),  and  W.--so  that  there  were  unbroken  friezes  on  the 
N.  and  S.  sides  and  four  panel-scenes,  one  on  either  side 
of  each  entrance.  The  long  friezes  represented  processions 
— that  on  the  S.  the  most  interesting,  since  it  contained 
portraits  of  all  the  great  ecclesiastical  dignitaries  of  the 
Empire  (flamens,  pontifices,  etc.)  and  perhaps  also  of  the 
family  of  Augustus.  Unfortunately  the  slabs  of  this  frieze, 
discovered  in  the  sixteenth  century,  are  now  in  the  Uffizi  at 
Florence,  and  one  (with  figures  of  flamens)  which  came  to 


X.J  THE  EASTERN  HEIGHTS  205 

light  in  1903  has  never  been  removed  from  the  spot  where  it 
lies,  embedded  in  the  foundations  of  the  Palazzo  Fiano  !  We 
shall  see  a  slab  of  the  somewhat  less  interesting  N.  frieze  in 
the  Cortile  del  Belvedere  (p.  302), 

The  finest  of  the  square  panels  is  likewise  in  Florence  :  it 
is  a  beautiful  landscape-relief  with  a  figure  of  the  Earth- 
goddess  and  her  children  together  with  personifications 
of  the  life-giving  Breezes  that  blow  over  land  and  sea.  This 
seems  to  have  been  adapted  by  the  Augustan  artist  from 
a  Hellenistic  composition,  and  to  have  been  balanced  by  a 
figure  of  Rome,  grouped  with  the  Wolf  and  Twins,  Mars,  etc. 
— both  on  the  side  facing  the  Corso.  One  only  of  the 
corresponding  panels  on  the  W.  has  been  preserved.  It  is 
that  which  we  see  here— composed  of  two  slabs  found  at 
different  times  (1859  and  1903),  but  fitting  accurately  together. 
The  subject  is  the  Sacrifice  of  a  Sow.  To  the  l.,  on  an 
eminence,  is  a  small  temple  containing  statues  of  a  pair 
of  divinities  :  these  are  perhaps  the  Penates  of  Rome,  and 
the  hill  is  in  that  case  the  Velia.  Below  are  two  graceful 
figures  of  laurel-wreathed  attendants,  one  of  whom  stoops  to 
lead  the  soav,  the  other — a  cajnillus — holds  a  dish  of  fruit 
and  pinecones  in  his  L.  hand  and  a  jug  in  his  R.  The  rustic 
altar  of  stone  with  a  wreath  thrown  across  it  is  partly 
destroyed,  together  with  the  oak  tree  above.  To  the  R. 
is  the  sacrificing  priest,  a  bearded  ideal  figure  with  the  toga 
wrapped  about  his  waist  and  drawn  over  the  back  of  his 
head  according  to  the  prescribed  ritual,  and  behind  him  are 
the  remains  of  a  figure  leaning  upon  a  staff.  It  is  difficult 
to  identify  these  figures  ;  but  on  the  whole  it  seems  best  to 
see  in  them  personifications  of  the  Senate  and  people  of 
Rome,  by  whose  decree  the  altar  was  set  up.  We  cannot 
deny  that  the  ideal  scenes  of  the  entrance-walls  are  in- 
congruous with  the  realistic  processional  friezes,  which  have 
no  organic  connection  with  them  :  this  mixture  of  real  and 
ideal  elements  is  a  feature  of  Imperial  art. 

A  door  in  the  S.  corridor  leads  into  the  Mtiseo  Buon- 
compagni,  a  suite  of  rooms  in  which  are  preserved  the 
sculptures   of  the    Ludovisi  collection,    acquired  by   the 


2o6  THE  EASTERN  HEIGHTS  [x. 

State  and  transferred  hither  from  the  Palazzo  Margherita. 
Many  of  its  finest  marbles  were  found  in  the  region  of 
the  Horti  Sallustiani  {^.  I94)- 

In  Room  I  the  most  interesting  work  is  (i)  the  marble 
throne  with  reliefs  placed  on  the  L.  with  its  face  to  the  wall. 
It  is  an  original  Greek  work  of  the  late  archaic  period, 
exquisitely  conceived  and  delicately  rendered,  though  of 
course  lacking  the  perfect  naturalism  of  fully  developed  art. 
On  the  back  we  see  Aphrodite  rising  from  the  waves,  which 
the  artist  has  ingeniously  hidden  by  means  of  a  veil,  and 
uplifted  by  two  maidens— Nymphs  or  Hours — clothed  in 
semi-transparent  tunics  :  the  seashore  is  indicated  by  the 
pebbly  beach  on  which  they  stand.  The  unnatural  position 
of  the  breasts  of  the  goddess  is  an  archaic  convention.  On 
the  sides  of  the  throne  are  two  figures  which  have  not 
unnaturally  suggested  a  comparison  with  the  "  Sacred  and 
Profane  love "  of  Titian's  painting.  The  contrast  between 
the  veiled  bride,  dropping  grains  of  incense  into  a  brazier, 
and  the  naked  flute-girl,  sounding  the  praises  of  Love  on  the 
double  pipe,  is  perfect  in  every  detail  ;  but  we  must  always 
remember  that  the  meaning  which  we  cannot  help  reading 
into  the  figures  was  not  that  of  the  artist ;  to  him  both  alike 
were  worshippers  of  Aphrodite,  and  no  more.  We  should  like 
to  think  that  this  throne  had  been  brought  from  Greece  to 
adorn  the  Temple  of  Venus  Erycina  in  the  Gardens  of 
Sallust ;  but,  as  was  shown  on  p.  195,  this  is  not  likely ;  nor  can 
we  accept  the  view  that  the  colossal  female  head  (33),  also 
of  the  archaic  period,  belonged  to  the  goddess  seated  thereon. 
Notice  the  holes  for  metal  curls  and  ornaments  on  the  head 
and  shoulders  :  probably  only  the  nude  parts  of  the  statue 
were  in  marble.  We  cannot  identify  the  goddess  with 
certainty,  since  the  head  belongs  to  a  time  when  the  ideals 
of  divinity  were  not  as  yet  differentiated.  12  is  an  archaic 
draped  statue  of  the  kind  described  above,  p.  105  (head 
restored  in  plaster).  The  two  herms  on  the  R.  represent  (46) 
Heracles  and  (62)  Theseus.  There  are  other  herms  of  the 
same  kind  in  the  side-rooms,  which  represent  Athena, 
Hermes,  and   Dionysus.     They    very   probably  adorned  a 


X.]  THE  EASTERN  HEIGHTS  207 

gymnasium  ;  the  types  were  borrowed  from  Greek  works  of 
the  late  fifth  and  fourth  centuries. 

We  pass  into  the  next  room  («^/that  on  the  R.)  and  see  on 
the  L.  (32)  a  Satyr  pouring  wine— wrongly  restored  with 
a  bunch  of  grapes  instead  of  a  jug  in  the  R.  hand — as  the 
cupbearer  of  Dionysus,  after  a  bronze  original  of  Praxiteles. 

In  the  following  room,  by  the  L.  wall,  is  a  group  (39) 
commonly  called  Orestes  and  Electra,  who,  it  is  supposed, 
are  waiting  at  the  tomb  of  their  father  Agamemnon.  It 
is  signed  by  the  artist  Menelaus,  pupil  of  Stephanus,  whose 
master  Pasiteles  was  the  contemporary  of  Cicero  and  Cajsar. 
Menelaus,  therefore,  probably  worked  towards  the  close  of 
Augustus'  reign  or  even  later.  The  school  to  which  he 
belonged  was  inspired  by  classical  models  (Stephanus,  for 
example,  has  left  his  signature  on  a  figure  derived  from 
a  fifth-century  athlete  type),  and  in  this  group  we  have  an 
unskilful  adaptation  of  types  taken  from  Attic  grave- 
monuments.  If,  indeed,  the  group  is  mythological,  then  it 
is  possible  that  Orestes  and  his  sister  are  represented  ;  but 
the  sculptor  has  even  left  us  in  doubt  whether  the  scene  is 
one  of  parting  or  of  meeting.  The  short  hair  of  the  girl 
betokens  mourning,  and  we  know  that  Electra  appeared  thus 
on  the  stage  ;  this  is  a  point  in  favour  of  the  popular  inter- 
pretation of  the  scene.  Opposite  is  a  seated  portrait-statue 
signed  by  Zeno  of  Aphrodisias,  one  of  the  school  whose 
works  we  have  seen  in  the  Capitoline  Museum  (p.  119).  The 
type  is  simply  borrowed  from  earlier  Greek  art  ;  compare 
the  so-called  Marcellus  of  the  Capitol  (p.  120). 

In  the  end  room,  by  the  back  wall,  is  (10)  a  large 
sarcophagus  of  the  third  century  a.d.  with  a  battle  scene 
of  Romans  and  barbarians,  apparently  Orientals.  Vigorous 
and  dramatic  as  it  is,  the  composition  is  confusing  to  the  eye, 
and  the  lack  of  a  neutral  background  gives  it  the  effect  of  a 
complicated  ornamental  pattern  rather  than  of  a  picture. 
The  Roman  commander  has  a  mark  in  the  shape  of  a  cross 
on  his  forehead  ;  and  what  seems  like  a  portrait  of  the  same 
person  with  an  identical  mark  is  in  the  Room  of  the  Doves 
in  the  Capitoline  Museum.     He  may  be  Timesitheus,  the 


2o8  THE  EASTERN  HEIGHTS  [x. 

fatlier-in-law  of  Gordian  III  (a.d.  238-44),  who  accompanied 
him  as  prefect  of  the  praetorian  guard  in  his  wars  with  the 
newly-founded  Persian  monarchy. 

On  the  R.  wall  are  the  fragments  of  a  very  large  relief, 
apparently  composed  for  the  purpose  of  wall-decoration, 
representing  the  judg:inent  of  Paris.  The  figures  of  Paris 
and  Eros  remind  us  of  the  relief  in  Palazzo  Spada :  the  group 
of  Hermes  and  the  three  goddesses  is  put  together  from 
well-known  types. 

Some  of  the  portraits  in  this  room  are  worthy  of  note. 
A  bronze  head  next  to  the  sarcophagus  is  one  of  the  rare 
examples  in  that  material  from  the  late  Republican  period  : 
it  has  been  quite  wrongly  described  as  a  portrait  of  Julius 
Caesar.  There  is  a  fine  head  of  the  Julio-Claudian  period  to 
the  R.  of  the  doorway,  and  over  the  door  a  good  portrait  of 
Gallienus,  the  dilettante  Emperor  of  the  third  century  whose 
folly  almost  led  to  the  dismemberment  of  the  Empire. 

Returning  to  the  first  room,  we  turn  to  the  L.  On  the  L.  is 
a  head  (10)  recently  recognised  as  a  portrait  of  Aristotle, 
the  head  of  a  thinker,  with  a  short  beard,  trimmed  in  the' 
style  of  the  portraits  of  Euripides,  which  are  thus  shown 
to  be  derived  from  an  original  fully  one  century  later  than 
the  poet's  lifetime. 

On  the  L.  is  {y])  a  statue  of  Ares  (Mars),  seated  on  a 
rock,  and  clasping  his  L.  knee  in  both  hands.  The  god  of 
battles  has  laid  aside  his  arms,  and  his  thoughts  are  turning 
from  war  to  love,  as  is  shown  by  the  figure  of  Eros  playing 
at  his  feet :  moreover,  there  are  traces  on  the  L.  shoulder 
which  show  that  the  Goddess  of  Love  herself  was  repre- 
sented at  his  side.  Nevertheless,  these  figures  were  simply 
added  by  the  Roman  copyist  in  order  to  make  explicit  what 
the  Greek  sculptor  had  left  to  the  imagination  of  the  be- 
holder. The  original  was  most  probably  a  work  of 
Lysippus — it  should  be  compared  with  the  Apoxyomenos 
(p.  326),  which  it  resembles  closely  in  its  proportions  and 
treatment  of  the  nude.  On  the  other  hand,  the  head  is  like 
that  of  the  Meleager  (p.  307)  and  others  attributed  to  Scopas, 
and  this  has  led  to  the  conjecture  that  the  statue  is  reduced 


X.]  THE  EASTERN  HEIGHTS  209 

and  adapted  from  a  colossal  Ares  by  that  master  which  we 
know  to  have  been  brought  to  Rome. 

In  the  second  room,  on  the  L.,  is  (59)  a  statue  of  Hermes 
the  Orator.  He  should  have  the  cadiiceiis  or  wand  in  his 
L.  hand  instead  of  the  purse,  and  his  R.  arm  should  be 
raised  towards  the  head:  the  so-called  "Germanicus"  of  the 
Louvre  illustrates  this  motive.  The  original  was  of  the 
fifth  century,  possibly  of  the  school  of  Myron. 

Opposite,  on  the  R.,  is  a  Pergamene  group  belonging  to 
the  same  series  as  the  Dying  Gaul  of  the  Capitol  (p.  128). 
It  was  once  called  by  the  names  of  "  Arria  and  Paetus," 
after  the  Stoic  and  his  wife  who  perished  under  Claudius, 
Arria  killing  herself  first  and  handing  the  dagger  to  her 
husband  with  the  words,  "  Paetus,  it  does  not  hurt "  :  but 
the  finely  characterised  heads  of  wild,  barbaric  aspect 
should  have  made  such  a  mistake  impossible.  The  pathos 
of  the  group,  in  which  we  see  the  proud  barbarian  slaying 
his  wife  in  order  to  save  her  from  slavery  and  shame,  is 
more  dramatically  intense,  but  hardly  deeper  than  that  of 
the  Gaul  of  the  Capitol  in  his  slow  agony. 

On  the  L.  of  the  further  door  is  the  beautiful  head  of  a 
Sleeping  Fury,  once  known  as  the  "  Medusa  Ludovisi," 
but  now  recognised  as  not  dead  but  sleeping.  The  snaky 
locks  of  the  traditional  Erinnys  have  been  softened  by  later 
Greek  art  into  the  less  fantastic  form  of  disordered  tresses. 
Perhaps  the  Fury  was  represented  as  sleeping  on  the  thres- 
hold of  Apollo's  shrine  at  Delphi,  ready  to  wake  at  the 
coming  of  Orestes  in  his  search  for  purification. 

In  the  last  room,  facing  the  door,  is  the  famous  Juno 
Ludovisi,  upon  which  unbounded  admiration  has  been 
lavished.  Beautiful  as  it  is,  it  is  not  an  original  work  of 
Greek  sculpture  ;  the  fashion  in  which  the  hair  is  twisted  at 
the  back  is  that  of  the  Julio-Claudian  period,  and  the 
woollen  fillet  encircHng  the  diadem  likewise  points  to  the 
fact  that  the  head  really  belongs  to  a  colossal  statue  of  a 
Roman  Empress  idealised  as  Juno  (Hera).  It  is  beyond 
doubt  the  finest  example  we  possess  of  the  "classicising" 
style  which  came  into  fashion  under  Augustus,  and  there  is 


2IO  THE  EASTERN  HEIGHTS  [x. 

something  cold  and  academic  in  its  aspect  in  spite  of  the 
purity  of  its  forms,  in  which  we  recognise  the  influence  of 
fourth-century  models  of  the  Praxitelean  school. 

On  the  L.  is  (57)  a  copy— one  of  the  largest  in  existence 
— of  the  masterpiece  of  Phidias,  the  virgin  Athena  of  the 
Parthenon.  Unfortunately  it  has  been  worked  over  and 
badly  restored  in  modern  times,  and  so  fails  to  give  us  a 
good  impression  of  the  original  of  gold  and  ivory.  The 
name  of  the  copyist,  partly  preserved  on  a  fold  of  drapery 
close  to  the  R.  foot,  was  apparently  Antiochus.  The 
helmet  should  have  a  towering  crest  with  griffins  on  either 
side:  the  R.  hand  held  a  figure  of  Victory,  the  L.  rested 
on  the  shield. 

We  now  return  to  the  entrance-hall  of  the  Museum  (the 
Roman  statues  in  the  S.  corridor  are  not  important)  and 
ascend  the  staircase  to  the  upper  floor.  On  the  wall  at 
the  top  of  the  stairs  are  two  large  tablets  with  inscriptions  re- 
cording the  celebration  of  the  Secular  Games  by  Augustus 
and  again  by  Septimius  Severus.  They  were  supposed  to 
herald  the  advent  of  a  new  age,  and  to  take  place  at  inter- 
vals of  100  or  no  years,  so  that  no  one  might  see  them 
twice  ;  but  as  ambitious  emperors  were  always  anxious  to 
celebrate  them,  the  official  calculations  were  made  to  square 
with  their  wishes.  Horace  composed  his  Carmen  Sceculare 
for  the  Games  of  Augustus  (17  B.C.),  and  this  is  mentioned  in 
the  earlier  inscription. 

In  the  centre  of  the  room  is  a  fragment  of  a  group  which 
represents  a  maiden  carried  off,  perhaps  by  a  Centaur  (the 
hand  only  remains).     It  was  a  fine  Hellenistic  work. 

Notice  the  mosaic  of  a  skeleton  with  the  legend  (in 
Greek),  "  Know  thyself,"  destined  to  remind  its  owner  of 
the  vanity  of  life. 

Turning  to  the  L.,^  we  find  ourselves  in  a  room  on  the  side 
walls  of  which  are  stucco  reliefs  from  a  vaulted  chamber 
in  a  house  discovered  in  the  grounds  of  the  Villa  Farnesina, 
on   the   R.   bank  of  the  Tiber,  with    Bacchic   subjects   or 

^  These  rooms  have  been  rearranged.  In  one  is  the  Maiden  of 
Antium  (p.  203). 


X.] 


THE  EASTERN  HEIGHTS 


211 


landscapes  with  scenes  of  sacrifice,  and  are  remarkable  for 
the  delicacy  of  touch  with  which  the  artist  has  contrived  to 
give  life  to  his  sketches.  We  shall  soon  see  more  of  the 
decorations  of  this  house  ;  it  belonged  to  the  Augustan 
period. 

The  cinerary  urns  in  this  room,  and  the  excellent  portrait- 
bust  of  a  girl,  whose  name  seems  to  have  been  Minatia 
Polla — she  lived  in  the  early  Imperial  period — were  found 
in  the  tomb  of  Sulpicius    Platorinus   and  his  wife,  whose 


a      I     19     I     20    I     2t     J 


MUSEO  DELLE  TERME     UPPER  FLOOR 


statues  we  saw  in  the  cloister.     A  plan  of  it  hangs  on  the 
wall  by  the  farther  door. 

In  the  next  room  are  some  fine  bronzes,  two  of  which 
have  been  mentioned  as  coming  from  the  Baths  of  Con- 
stantine.  One  is  the  seated  boxer,  a  work  of  amazing 
power  and  brutal  realism.  Not  only  are  the  repulsive 
features  of  the  pugilist  rendered  with  the  utmost  fidelity, 
but  the  traces  of  the  combat  in  which  he  has  been  engaged 
are  all  too  plain.  The  ears — naturally  swollen  and  un- 
shapely— are  torn  and  bleeding  ;  the  moustache  is  plastered 
in  lumps  with  congealed  blood  ;  there  is  a  huge  bruise  under 
the  right  eye,  and  the  man  is  breathing  heavily  through  the 


212  THE  EASTERN  HEIGHTS  [x. 

open  mouth.  The  boxing-straps  on  the  hands  (leaving  the 
finger-joints  free)  are  accurately  represented.  We  must 
suppose  that  the  boxer  is  resting  after  a  fight  and  talking 
to  a  comrade.  The  original  was  of  the  late  Hellenistic 
period,  and  bears  traces  of  having  been  restored  in  ancient 
times. 

Beside  it  stands  a  work  which  differs  widely  from  it  in 
spirit,  although  perhaps  not  in  date.  This  is  the  idealised 
portrait  of  a  Hellenistic  king  whom  we  are  unable  to  identify, 
represented  in  heroic  nudity  ;  in  his  L.  hand  he  held  a  lance. 
This  pose — or  one  very  like  it — was  used  by  Lysippus  for 
a  famous  statue  of  Alexander  the  Great,  and  after  him  (with 
modifications)  by  many  later  artists.  Roman  letters  and 
numerals,  the  significance  of  which  is  not  clear,  are  engraved 
with  dotted  lines  on  the  body  and  R.  leg  ;  but  the  statue  is 
clearly  an  original,  not  a  Roman  copy. 

The  bronze  statue  of  Dionysus,  with  eyes  of  silver  and 
lips  of  copper,  stands  on  a  much  lower  artistic  level  than 
the  two  just  described.  It  has  been  conjectured  to  be  a 
Campanian  work  of  the  second  or  third  century  B.C.  The 
fragments  of  bronze  statues  by  the  walls  of  the  room 
belonged  to  the  figures  which  stood  on  a  triumphal  arch  at 
the  entrance  of  the  so-called  Bridg:e  of  Valentinian,  found 
just  below  the  Ponte  Sisto,  and  apparently  rebuilt  by 
Valentinian  I  in  A.D.  365  on  the  site  of  an  earlier  bridge 
called  the  Pons  Aurelius. 

The  next  room  contains  examples  of  most  of  the  great 
schools  of  classical  Greek  sculpture.  On  the  R.  as  we  enter 
we  see  the  torso  of  an  athlete  by  Polyclitus,  a  charming 
female  statue  (headless,  with  drapery  slipping  from  the  R. 
arm)  belonging  to  the  Attic  school  of  the  later  fifth-century, 
too  young  for  Aphrodite,  and  an  Athena  (headless,  but 
wearing  the  aegis)  of  severe  style.  By  the  wall  facing  the 
doorway  is  a  statue  of  Apollo,  a  careful  but  somewhat  hard 
copy  of  a  bronze  original,  possibly  a  work  of  the  young 
Phidias.  It  should  be  restored  with  bow  in  R.  and  laurel- 
branch  in  L.  Even  in  the  copy  we  can  trace  something  of 
that  mastery  in  the  modelling  of  the  nude  which  was  the 


X.]  THE  EASTERN  HEIGHTS  213 

secret  of  Attic  sculpture.  To  the  L.  of  the  Apollo  are  two 
female  heads,  one  an  Aphrodite  of  the  age  of  Praxiteles,  the 
other  (with  broad  fillet  round  the  hair)  from  a  somewhat 
earlier  statue  of  Hygeia,  the  goddess  of  health.  On  the  R.  of 
the  Apollo  is  a  fourth-century  boy's  head,  and  on  either  side 
of  the  door  a  head  of  Asclepius,  the  god  of  healing.  That 
in  the  L.  corner  is  conventional,  and  looks  almost  like  an 
archaic  work  :  it  has  been  conjectured  to  be  derived  from  a 
statue  by  the  artist  Phyromachus  at  Pergamon,  where  (as 
we  have  already  seen,  p.  128)  sculptors  drew  their  inspiration 
from  earlier  models  when  called  upon  for  types  of  divinity. 
By  the  wall  to  R.  of  exit  notice  the  torso  of  an  archaic  female 
statue,  and  a  "  severe "  female  head  belonging  to  the 
Peloponnesian  school  of  the  fifth  century. 

Passing  into  the  next  room  we  see  more  of  the  stucco 
reliefs  already  described.  Some  of  the  panel-subjects  may 
have  been  inspired  by  paintings  ;  and  there  is  much  in  the 
landscapes  which  reminds  us  of  the  wall-paintings  of  Rome 
and  Pompeii. 

In  the  centre  is  a  statue  of  the  young  Dionysus,  found  in 
Hadrian's  Villa.  It  has  been  held  that  this  is  an  original 
work  of  Hadrian's  time,  inspired  by  the  "classicising" 
eclectic  spirit  of  the  short-lived  Renaissance  of  Hellenism 
fostered  by  the  Emperor  :  but  it  seems  rather  to  be  copied 
from  a  bronze  of  the  fourth  century  B.C.  (notice  the  treat- 
ment of  the  panther's  skin),  and  the  supposed  eclecticism  is 
due  to  a  real  mixture  of  styles.  Perhaps  the  sculptor 
Euphranor  of  Corinth  may  have  been  the  creator  of  the 
type. 

In  the  centre  of  the  next  room  is  a  statue  which  is  still  the 
despair  of  critics.  It  represents  a  boy  kneeling.  His  L. 
knee  almost  touches  the  ground  (which  has  a  wavy  surface 
like  that  of  wet  sand,  but  may  be  a  conventional  represen- 
tation of  rocks),  and  his  R.  arm  is  uplifted,  while  his  head 
was  thrown  far  back  and  looked  up  to  the  R.  The  rendering 
of  the  flesh  is  so  full  of  life  that  the  statue  has  often  been  con- 
sidered as  a  Greek  original :  but  the  tree-trunk  can  hardly 
be  explained  except  as  a  support  added  by  the  copyist  in 


214  THE  EASTERN  HEIGHTS  [x. 

marble  of  a  bronze  work.  The  subject  has  not  been 
identified  ;  if  mythological  it  may  be  a  Niobid,  or  possibly 
Hylas  surprised  by  the  Nymphs  while  drawing  water — his 
pitcher  might  have  been  supported  on  the  L.  knee,  which  is 
broken  at  the  cap.  But  it  is  more  likely  that  the  statue  is 
a  bit  of  ge?ire  work  of  the  early  Hellenistic  age  ;  it  has 
been  suggested  that  the  boy  was  in  the  act  of  catching 
a  ball  in  the  uplifted  R.  hand.  It  was  found  on  the  supposed 
site  of  Nero's  villa  at  Subiaco,  together  with  the  head  of 
a  sleeping  girl  by  the  R.  window,  a  charming  work  of  about 
the  same  date. 

The  head  beside  the  other  window  is  that  of  a  Persian, 
mortally  stricken,  whose  features  are  convulsed  by  the 
agony  of  death.  The  marble  is  that  characteristic  of  the 
copies  of  Pergamene  works  in  Rome.  We  know  that 
Attains  I  set  up  a  series  of  bronze  groups  on  the  Acropolis 
of  Athens  in  commemoration  of  his  victories  over  the  Gauls 
(see  p.  128).  Not  only  were  these  events  themselves  por- 
trayed, but  also  other  triumphs,  historical  and  mythical,  of 
order  over  barbarism — the  victory  of  Athens  over  Persia,  of 
Theseus  over  the  Amazons,  of  the  Olympian  gods  over  the 
Giants.  Copies  of  these— all  under  life-size,  and  all  belong- 
ing to  the  losing  side — exist  in  the  museums  of  Europe  ;  they 
seem  all  to  have  been  found  in  the  remains  of  the  Baths  of 
Nero  (p.  174).  We  shall  meet  with  one  of  the  Persians  in 
the  Galleria  dei  Candelabri  (p.  338).  Our  head  may  per- 
haps be  taken  as  evidence  that  similar  groups  on  a  larger 
scale  (corresponding  with  that  of  the  Dying  Gaul)  were  set 
up  at  Pergamon  itself. 

At  the  end  of  the  room  are  the  entrances  to  two 
cabinets.  That  on  the  L.  contains  statues  of  Vestals 
found  in  the  Atrium  Vestos  (p.  72).  The  most  per- 
fectly preserved  of  these  (with  a  good  portrait  head  of 
the  later  second  century  A.D.)  shows  us  the  Vestal's  dress 
in  all  its  details.  The  hair  having  been  wound  round 
the  heads  in  six  plaits  (which  we  do  not  see)  was  confined 
with  white  and  red  woollen  fillets  (infulcs)^  the  ends  of 
which  hung  down  on  the  shoulders.     A  white  head-dress 


X.]  THE  EASTERN  HEIGHTS  215 

(suffibulum)  with  a  purple  border,  fastened  on  the  breast  by 
a  brooch  ox  fibula^  was  worn  over  the  fillets  ;  a  sleeved  tunic, 
girt  high  up,  and  a  mantle,  both  white,  completed  the  cos- 
tume, which  resembled  that  of  a  Roman  bride. 

In  the  right-hand  cabinet  is  a  fine  replica  of  the  Sleeping 
Hermaphrodite,  which  we  have  already  seen  in  the  Villa 
Borghese.  We  hear  of  a  famous  statue  of  this  type  by  the 
Hellenistic  sculptor  Polycles,  but  this  was  of  bronze,  whereas 
the  statue  before  us  is  calculated  for  the  effect  of  marble. 
Repugnant  as  the  conception  is  to  modern  taste,  we  cannot 
deny  that  the  handling  of  the  nude  is  masterly. 

Returning  to  the  main  room,  we  notice  on  the  back  wall 
a  series  of  frescoes  belonging  to  the  house  in  which  the 
stucco  reliefs  already  described  were  found.  The  larger 
part  of  the  wall  was  decorated  with  black  panels  (divided 
by  graceful  columns  like  candelabra)  on  which  landscapes 
were  lightly  sketched  with  touches  of  white  and  yellow  (they 
can  now  only  be  discerned  by  close  inspection).  We  are 
reminded  of  the  account  given  by  Pliny  of  a  certain  Ludius 
or  Studius,  who  lived  under  Augustus  and  introduced  a  new 
style  of  wall-decoration  with  representations  of  "  villas, 
harbours,  gardens,  groves,  woods,  hills,  ponds,  canals,  rivers, 
shores — anything  that  took  the  fancy."  Above  these  panels 
is  a  frieze  whose  prevailing  tone  is  yellow,  on  which  are 
painted  scenes  from  the  law  courts — notably  one  which 
seems  to  illustrate  the  story  of  the  Judgment  of  Solomon,  or 
perhaps  a  like  story  told  in  Egypt  of  the  Wise  King  Boc- 
choris.     We  see  here  the  influence  of  Alexandrian  art. 

In  the  following  room  are  wall-paintings  from  the  same 
house  with  a  red  ground.  Notice  particularly  the  style  of 
the  smaller /r<2W^^  pictures  which  are  evidently  meant  to  sug- 
gest paintings  of  the  classical  period  of  art  with  a  white  ground 
like  that  of  some  Attic  vases  of  the  fifth  century  :  the  most 
characteristic  of  these  represents  Aphrodite  attended  by  Eros 
and  Persuasion  (there  are  two  others  with  seated  female 
figures  playing  harp  and  lyre).  There  is  a  marked  contrast 
between  these  paintings  and  the  central  scene,  where  we  see 
the  child  Dionysus  attended  by  the   Maenads.     Here  it  is 


2i6  THE  EASTERN  HEIGHTS  [x. 

hard  to  say  whether  a  picture  or  a  glimpse  of  outer  space 
was  intended  by  the  painter  :  see  what  was  said  on  p.  92 
about  the  wall-paintings  of  the  House  of  Livia  on  the  Pala- 
tine, which  are  of  the  same  style.  Notice  the  smaller  scenes, 
clearly  conceived  as  pictures,  some  with  half-open  shutters, 
in  the  upper  part  of  the  walls. 

In  the  corner  to  the  R.  of  the  entrance  is  a  youthful  male 
head  of  fourth-century  type,  and  in  the  centre  of  the  room  a 
statue  of  a  boy  athlete  in  green  basalt.  The  original  was 
of  the  fifth  century  B.C.,  probably  of  the  Peloponnesian 
school ;  the  material  was  chosen  in  order  to  imitate  the 
patina  of  bronze,  and  also  to  display  the  skill  of  the  artist  in 
handling  a  difficult  material. 

In  the  rooms  to  the  L.  are  more  paintings  from  the  house 
by  the  Tiber.  In  the  first  the  ground  is  white.  Notice  the 
graceful  figure  of  a  seated  lady  of  "  classical "  style,  and  also 
the  shuttered  pictures  of  the  frieze,  which  belong  to  a  very 
different  style  of  art,  illustrating  no  doubt  the  later  Greek 
comedy. 

The  case  in  the  centre  of  the  room  contains  iridescent 
glass  vessels  and  objects  of  amber  and  lead,  dedicated  by 
women  in  the  temple  of  Venus  at  Terracina. 

In  the  next  room  we  again  find  paintings  on  a  red  ground  ; 
notice  the  signature  of  the  Greek  artist  Seleucus  on  one  of 
these. 

The  hoard  of  gold  coins  in  the  centre  case  was  found 
buried  in  the  House  of  the  Vestals  :  the  coins  are  of  the 
fourth  and  fifth  centuries. 

In  the  last  room  the  background  of  the  frescoes  is  white, 
and  suggests  a  portico  with  green  columns.  Here  we 
see  another  imitation  of  bronze,  this  time  in  black  marble 
{bigio\  in  the  seated  female  figure  in  the  middle  of  the 
room. 

Returning  to  the  first  room  with  red  walls  we  enter 
another  suite  to  the  L.  (13  on  plan).  Here  are  more  frescoes 
with  white  ground,  and  some  Greek  portrait-heads.  Notice 
two  of  the  type  which  we  have  already  seen  in  the  Room 
of  the   Philosophers,  representing  a  Hellenistic   poet  with 


X.]  THE  EASTERN  HEIGHTS  217 

unsparing  realism.  One  of  them,  it  will  be  noticed,  wears 
the  poet's  ivy-wreath.  There  are  also  two  portraits  of 
Socrates,  and  one  (near  the  farther  doorway)  of  a  Hellenistic 
king  wearing  a  band  round  the  hair. 

In  the  next  room  are  some  portraits  of  Roman  emperors 
(those  of  Nero  and  Antoninus  Pius  should  be  noted)  and  two 
interesting  historical  reliefs.  On  the  entrance-wall  is  one 
representing  the  upper  part  of  the  fagade  of  a  temple  with 
its  pediment-sculptures.  As  these  form  scenes  connected 
with  the  founding  of  Rome  (Mars  visiting  Rhea  Sylvia,  the 
Wolf  and  Twins)  it  has  been  thought  that  the  temple  is  that 
of  Venus  and  Roma  built  by  Hadrian  (p.  79) :  but  the 
lower  half  of  the  relief  (which  we  shall  presently  see  in  the 
Lateran,  p.  231)  seems  to  be  earlier  than  Hadrian's  reign. 
Possibly  the  temple  may  be  that  of  Venus  Genetrix,  built 
by  Julius  Cassar.  Opposite  to  this  is  a  relief  on  the  back- 
ground of  which  is  a  temple  of  "  Tuscan "  style  with 
pediment-sculptures  representing  the  auspices  of  Romulus, 
whose  settlement  on  the  Palatine  was  determined  by  the 
flight  of  birds.  The  temple  must  be  that  of  Quirinus 
(p.  197),  with  whom  Romulus  was  identified.  In  front  of  the 
doorway  is  a  figure  wearing  the  priestly  cap  with  a  spike 
of  olive-wood  {apex).  At  the  sides  of  this  relief  are  other 
fragments — two  of  them  with  curious  columns  hke  palm- 
trees— belonging  to  the  same  monument ;  they  were  dis- 
covered in  laying  the  foundations  of  the  Piazza  dell'  Esedra. 
The  date  is  very  hard  to  fix,  but  is  not  earlier  than  the 
time  of  Hadrian. 

On  the  R.  wall  are  several  mosaics  from  an  ancient  villa 
near  Baccano  (an  ancient  lake-basin  near  the  Lago  di 
Bracciano),  which  seem  to  date  from  the  beginning  of  the 
third  century  A.D.  Some  represent  the  Muses  (with  inscrip- 
tions), others  mythological  subjects,  such  as  the  story  of 
Polyphemus  and  Odysseus  or  the  punishment  of  Marsyas. 
In  the  corner  to  the  R.  notice  a  portrait  of  Gallienus. 
The  mosaics  with  masks  and  with  the  rout  of  Bacchus 
came  from  a  villa  at  Tusculum. 

In  the  next  room  are  seven  portrait-herms  of  charioteers, 


2i8  THE  EASTERN  HEIGHTS  [x. 

all  found  near  the  Trastevere  railway  station.  Four  of  them 
wear  the  straps  encircling  the  chest  which  are  generally 
thought  to  be  reins,  but  are  more  probably  leather  body- 
protectors.  They  date  from  the  Julio-Claudian  period. 
Notice  the  carefully  curled  locks  of  one  of  the  youths.  On 
the  walls  of  the  room  are  four  mosaics  representing 
charioteers  of  the  several  "  factions,"  distinguished  by  their 
colours — red,  white,  green,  and  blue — whose  struggles 
aroused  tenfold  more  excitement  in  Ancient  Rome  than 
horse-racing  does  in  modern  England.  The  "factions" 
were  companies  formed  for  profit,  which  contracted  with  the 
magistrates  responsible  for  the  celebration  of  the  games. 
Originally  there  were  only  two — the  Whites  and  the  Reds  ; 
the  Greens  and  Blues,  which  were  the  most  successful, 
are  first  heard  of  under  the  Empire.  Caligula,  followed  by 
most  of  the  succeeding  emperors  who  patronised  the  sport, 
bestowed  his  favour  on  the  Greens  ;  Caracalla  was  the 
patron  of  the  Blues.  On  the  R.  wall  is  an  inscription  in 
honour  of  one  of  the  most  famous  charioteers — Avilius 
Teres,  the  first  to  achieve  the  distinction  of  winning  one 
thousand  races  for  the  Reds  ;  his  name  shows  him  to 
have  been  a  freedman  of  a  family  which  supported  that 
"  faction." 

In  the  next  room  are  some  interesting  wall-paintings  from 
a  Colmnbarium  (cf.  p.  222)  on  the  Esquiline,  used  by  the 
dependents  of  the  family  of  the  Statilii.  They  formed 
a  frieze  above  the  uppermost  row  of  niches  containing 
urns,  and  date  from  about  the  beginning  of  the  Augustan 
period.  The  subjects  are  taken  from  the  legend  of  ^neas 
and  the  founding  of  Lavinium,  Alba  Longa,  and  Rome, 
and  are  of  special  interest  because  they  were  in  all  proba- 
bility painted  before  Virgil's  ^neid  was  written.  More- 
over, they  illustrate  the  beginnings  of  a  Roman  narrative 
style  which  was  to  find  its  fullest  development  in  the  reliefs 
of  the  Imperial  Columns.  Unfortunately  the  paintings  are 
much  faded  and  the  inscriptions  generally  illegible  (the 
names  of  Numicus,  a  river-god,  and  of  the  city  Alba  can 
be  read).     The  battles  between  the  Trojan  settlers  and  the 


X.]  THE  EASTERN  HEIGHTS  219 

native  Latins  are  depicted  at  length  ;  also  the  building  of 
two  cities,  Lavinium  and  Alba. 

By  the  entrance- wall  is  a  sarcophagus  recently  discovered 
which  seems  from  its  style  to  date  from  the  middle  of  the 
second  century  A.D.  at  earliest,  and  represents  a  youthful 
Roman  in  heroic  nudity  receiving  the  submission  of  bar- 
barians, who  seem  to  be  either  Dacians  or  Orientals. 
Possibly  the  man  for  whom  the  sarcophagus  was  made  had 
served  with  Trajan  in  his  youth.  Opposite  is  an  unfinished 
sarcophagus  with  Bacchic  figures  roughly  blocked  out,  and 
in  the  centre  of  the  room  a  marble  vase  with  reliefs  repre- 
senting the  ceremonies  of  initiation  into  the  Eleusinian 
mysteries.  In  the  centre  sits  the  neophyte  veiled,  whilst 
a  woman  holds  the  symbolic  winnowing-fan  over  his  head. 
To  the  L.  a  pig  is  sacrificed  and  placed  in  a  well-head  ; 
to  the  R.  we  see  the  goddesses  of  Eleusis,  Demeter  and 
Persephone,  holding  torches,  and  in  front  of  them  a  youth- 
ful figure  clad  in  a  fawn-skin  and  holding  a  club,  who  can 
hardly  be  other  than  Heracles.  Some  details  in  these 
reliefs — especially  the  ears  of  corn  on  the  head  of  Demeter 
— point  to  Alexandria,  where  mysteries  imitated  from  those 
of  Eleusis  were  celebrated. 

In  the  last  room  is  a  good  copy  of  the  famous  discobolus 
of  Myron,  found  in  a  villa  belonging  to  the  King  of  Italy, 
not  far  from  Ostia.  Beside  it  has  been  placed  a  cast  in 
which  the  head  is  taken  from  the  only  extant  copy  in  which 
it  is  preserved — that  in  the  Palazzo  Lancelotti,  which  is 
never  shown  to  visitors.  This  statue  was  the  masterpiece 
of  early  athletic  sculpture,  and  one  of  the  most  daring 
flights  of  the  Greek  genius.  Myron  worked  between  the 
Persian  wars  and  the  middle  of  the  fifth  century,  and  was 
not  content  to  repeat  the  conventional  poses  of  athletic 
portrait  statues.  He  chose  the  critical  moment  of  rest 
which  precedes  the  throw  of  the  discus,  when  every  muscle 
of  the  frame  is  at  full  tension,  ready  for  the  rhythmical 
swing  which  will  accompany  the  downward  sweep  of  the 
R.  arm.  The  copy  before  us  is  an  excellent  specimen  of 
painstaking  Roman  work,  which,  if  it  cannot  give  us  the 


220  THE  EASTERN  HEIGHTS  [x. 

freshness  and  life  of  the  original,  is  rich  in  anatomical 
detail.  Think  away  the  marble  supports  ^.ndpuntelli  which 
were  absent  in  the  bronze  original. 

We  must  now  return  to  the  top  of  the  staircase  and  pass 
on,  leaving  it  on  our  R.  In  the  suite  of  rooms  in  front 
of  us  are  cases  containing  a  treasure  of  gold  ornaments, 
weapons,  and  other  objects  from  a  Lombard  cemetery  near 
Ascoli  on  the  E.  of  Italy,  as  well  as  material  of  the  same 
period  from  Nocera  in  Umbria.  They  illustrate  the  barbaric 
art  of  the  Dark  Ages,  drawing  inspiration  from  antique 
models.  In  the  last  room  note  a  hoard  of  English  coins 
of  Alfred  the  Great  and  other  Saxon  kings,  sent  to 
Rome  as  "  Peter's-pence "  and  buried  in  the  House  of  the 
Vestals. 

In  the  suite  of  rooms  on  the  R.  is  a  collection  of  mis- 
cellaneous antiquities  intended  to  illustrate  the  life  of  the 
ancient  Romans.  By  the  walls  on  the  R.  are  a  series  of 
female  portrait-heads  illustrating  the  successive  styles  of 
hairdressing  which  were  in  fashion  under  the  Empire.  In 
the  wall  cases  of  the  first  and  third  rooms  are  a  number 
of  terra-cotta  models  of  human  limbs  and  animals  dedi- 
cated as  votive  offerings  in  a  temple  of  the  gods  of  healing. 
In  the  centre  cases  are  small  bronzes,  terra-cottas,  glass 
vessels,  etc. ;  notice  in  the  third  room  (i6  on  plan)  the  lid 
of  a  casket  from  Palestrina  like  the  Ficoroni  cista  (p.  i8o). 
There  are  also  many  fragments  of  terra-cotta  reliefs  similar 
to  those  in  the  Palazzo  dei  Conservatori  (p.  148)  and  Museo 
Kircheriano  (p.  179) ;  notice  the  Egyptian  scene,  of  which  we 
have  already  seen  examples.  Other  terra-cottas,  such  as 
the  group  of  a  Satyr  and  Maenad,  and  the  frieze  in  the 
last  room  but  one  from  Palestrina,  are  archaic  in  style  and 
were  used  in  the  decoration  of  temples.  In  the  last  room 
are  exhibited  remains  of  the  Floating  Villas  in  the  form 
of  ships  found  in  the  Lake  of  Nemi  and  built  to  the  order  of 
Caligula.  The  timbers  of  these  ships  were  encased  in 
bronze  and  adorned  at  the  extremities  with  heads  of  lions. 
Medusa,  etc. 


X.]  THE  EASTERN  HEIGHTS  221 

After  leaving  the  Museo  delle  Terme,  we  may  visit  the 
remains  of  the  Servian  wall  in  the  goods  station  :  as  to 
these  see  p.  355.  The  wall  ran  hence  almost  due  S.,  and  the 
region  outside  it  was  a  vast  cemetery  in  Republican  times. 
The  bodies  of  the  poor  and  the  slaves  were  cast  into 
trenches  {puticuli\  some  traces  of  which  have  been  dis- 
covered, and  the  nuisance  and  danger  to  health  became  so 
intolerable  that  Maecenas  reclaimed  the  whole  district  and 
laid  out  his  park — the  Gardens  of  Maecenas  already  men- 
tioned (p,  142) — on  the  site.  In  these  was  the  tower  from 
which  Nero  witnessed  the  burning  of  Rome. 

If  we  proceed  past  S.  Maria  Maggiore,  take  the  Via  Carlo 
Alberto,  and  turn  to  the  R.  just  before  reaching  the  Piazza 
Vittorio  Emanuele,  we  shall  see  another  landmark  in  the 
course  of  the  Servian  wall — the  Arch  of  Qallienus,  which 
bears  an  inscription  showing  that  it  was  set  up  in  A.D.  262 
in  honour  of  that  unworthy  Emperor  by  one  Aurelius  Victor, 
prefect  of  the  city.  It  took  the  place  of  the  Esquiline  Qate 
in  the  old  line  of  wall,  and  originally  had  three  bays,  of 
which  the  central  one  and  traces  of  that  on  the  E.  now 
remain. 

The  region  lying  outside  the  Servian  enceinte  on  the  E. 
was  almost  entirely  covered  with  parks  and  palaces  under 
the  Empire.  The  remains  of  antiquity  are  here  few  and 
scattered.  Near  the  northern  angle  of  the  Piazza  Vittorio 
Emanuele  are  the  ruins  of  a  lofty  structure  of  brick,  which 
is  popularly  known  as  the  Tj-ofei  di  Mario,  because  the  so- 
called  Trophies  of  Marius,  now  on  the  balustrade  of  the 
Piazza  del  Campidoglio  (p.  103)  were  found  there.  The 
building  was  a  monumental  fountain,  and  was  probably  set 
up  by  Domitian  :  the  absence  of  dated  stamps  on  its  bricks 
is  in  favour  of  an  early  date,  and  we  could  in  any  case 
hardly  identify  it  with  a  famous  fountain  erected  in  this 
quarter  by  Severus  Alexander,  since  it  stands  too  high  to  be 
fed  by  the  aqueduct  which  he  built. 

Taking  the  Via  Principe  Eugenio,  which  starts  from  the 
western  angle  of  the  Piazza  Vittorio  Emanuele,  and  then 
the  Via  di  Porta  Maggiore  which  continues  it,  we  may  turn 


222  THE  EASTERN  HEIGHTS  [x. 

to  the  L.  by  the  Via  Pietro  Micca  and  reach  the  building 
cnmmonly  called  the  Temple  of  Minerva  Medica.     The 

name  was  given  to  it  in  the  seventeenth  century  because  it 
was  wrongly  believed  that  the  Athena  Giustiniani  (p.  329) 
was  found  there.  It  really  formed  part  of  a  suite  of  baths 
belonging  to  one  of  the  parks  in  this  region — most  prob- 
ably the  horti  Liciniani^  which  were  the  property  of  the 
Emperor  Gallienus.  The  style  of  the  building,  especially 
the  ingenious  construction  of  the  cupola  over  a  chamber  of 
decagonal  plan,  with  its  system  of  ribs  in  the  shape  of 
brick  arches,  by  which  its  stability  is  assured  and  its  weight 
distributed,  points  to  the  time  of  Gallienus  (a.d  250-68). 
Notice,  however,  that  the  semicircular  side  chambers,  of 
which  a  few  courses  are  still  standing,  are  about  half  a 
century  later  in  date.  They  are  built  in  so-called  opus 
mixtuvt,  with  alternate  courses  of  brick  and  tufa,  and  seem 
to  have  been  added  in  order  to  buttress  the  central  hall. 
The  marble  pavement,  and  traces  of  the  pipes  by  which 
water  was  laid  on,  have  recently  been  laid  bare  in  places. 

From  here  it  is  but  a  few  steps  to  the  Porta  Maggiore. 
This  region  was  occupied  in  the  Augustan  period  by  tombs 
and  columbaria^  amongst  others  that  of  the  Statilii,  from 
which  were  taken  the  historical  wall  paintings  which  we  saw 
in  the  Museo  delle  Terme  (p.  218).  Most  of  these  were 
buried  under  fifteen  or  twenty  feet  of  earth  when  the  parks 
of  the  Later  Empire  were  laid  out. 

The  Porta  Maggiore^  which  was  the  Porta  PrcBnestina 
of  the  walls  of  Aurelian  (p.  359),  is  formed  by  two  broad 
arches  of  the  great  double  aqueduct  built  by  Claudius  in 
A.D.  52.  It  has  three  small  gateways  (closed)  in  the  piers, 
which  are  decorated  with  engaged  Corinthian  columns 
(notice  the  "rusticated"  masonry)  carrying  an  entablature 
and  pediments. 

[This  spot,  which  was  called  by  the  Romans  ad  Spem 
veterefn  from  an  ancient  Temple  of  Hope,  was  the  meeting- 
place  of  the  greater  part  of  the  aqueducts  which  supplied 
Rome  with  water.  The  earliest  of  these  was  the  Aqua 
Appia,  the  work  of  the  blind  censor  of  312  B.C.,  Appius 


X.]  THE  EASTERN  HEIGHTS  223 

Claudius,  who  is  more  famous  as  the  builder  of  the  Appian 
Way.  Its  channel  was  almost  entirely  subterranean,  except 
where  it  crossed  the  valley  between  the  Caelian  and  the  Lesser 
Aventine  ;  it  has  been  brought  to  light  by  excavation  at 
various  points.  The  supply  came  from  the  Anio  valley, 
about  seven  miles  from  Rome.  Forty  years  afterwards,  a 
second  aqueduct,  the  Anio  Vetus,  was  built,  tapping  the 
Anio  about  ten  miles  above  Tibur  (Tivoli),  and  therefore 
between  forty  and  fifty  miles  long.  As  the  Aqua  Appia 
supplied  the  Caelian  and  Aventine,  so  the  Anio  Vetus 
supplied  the  Esquiline ;  but  the  water  was  not  of  good 
quality,  and  came  in  time  to  be  used  only  for  gardens  and 
drains.  The  channel  of  the  Anio  Vetus  was  carried  on  an 
embankment  for  some  distance  outside  the  Porta  Maggiore, 
but  for  the  rest  of  its  course  ran  underground. 

In  144  B.C.  the  praetor,  Q.  Marcius  Rex,  built  a  third 
aqueduct,  the  Aqua  Marcia^  starting  from  the  Sabine  hills 
on  the  R.  bank  of  the  Anio.  The  latter  part  of  its  course 
was  practically  the  same  as  that  of  the  Anio  Vetus^  but  as 
it  was  at  a  much  higher  level  it  could  supply  even  the 
Capitol  with  water,  and  after  being  doubled  in  volume  by 
Augustus,  who  tapped  fresh  sources,  it  was  extended  by 
later  emperors,  such  as  Caracalla,  who  conveyed  its  waters 
by  a  special  branch  to  his  Baths,  and  Diocletian,  who  did 
likewise. 

Soon  afterwards,  in  125  B.C.,  a  fresh  source  of  supply 
was  found  in  the  Alban  hills,  and  an  aqueduct  called  from 
the  relatively  high  temperature  of  its  water  the  Aqua 
Tepula,  was  built.  Agrippa,  who  restored  the  Republican 
aqueducts  and  built  a  new  one,  the  Aqua  Virgo,  for  the 
use  of  his  own  Baths  (we  have  already  seen  its  remains, 
p.  182),  tapped  fresh  springs  nearer  to  Rocca  di  Papa,  and 
carried  the  water  to  Rome,  together  with  that  of  the  Aqua 
Tepula^  under  the  name  of  Aqua  Julia. 

Lastly,  Claudius  gave  to  Rome  two  aqueducts  whose 
arches  are  among  the  unforgettable  features  of  the  Cam- 
pagna.  The  Aqua  Claudia  was  drawn  from  springs  near 
those  of  the  Marcia,  the  Atiio  Novus  from  the  river  Anio  a 


224  THE  EASTERN  HEIGHTS  [x. 

little  below  Subiaco;  the  two  were  carried  on  the  same 
arches  as  they  approached  Rome,  but  the  channel  or  specus 
of  the  Aitio  Noviis  was  above  that  of  the  Aqua  Claudia- 
The  water  of  the  first  named  was  muddy  and  undrinkable 
after  rains,  and  Trajan  improved  its  quality  by  placing 
the  intake  higher  up  the  valley  in  order  to  use  the 
three  artificial  lakes  of  Nero's  villa  at  Subiaco  as  filtering 
tanks.] 

All  the  aqueducts  named  in  the  above  paragraphs  (except 
the  Aqua  Virgo,  which  crossed  the  Pincian)  entered  Rome 
by  or  near  the  Porta  Maggiore,  and  if  we  go  outside  the 
gate  we  shall  see  the  remains  of  several  at  the  angle 
of  the  wall  of  Aurelian.  The  Anio  Novus  and  Aqua 
Claudia  are  incorporated  in  the  fvall  itself ;  they  are  crossed 
at  right  angles  by  three  channels,  that  of  the  Marcia  being 
the  lowest,  the  Tepula  next,  and  the  Julia  highest.  The 
channel  of  the  A7iio  Veius  is  at  the  ground  level,  while  the 
Appia  is  buried.  (The  modern  Aqua  Felice,  called  after 
Felice  Peretti,  who  became  Pope  as  Sixtus  V,  also  enters 
Rome  here.  It  is  drawn  from  springs  near  Colonna  and 
dates  from  1 587.)  The  triple  aqueduct  of  the  Ma.  na,  Tepula, 
2ir\d  Julia  runs  to  the  N.W.  along  the  wall  of  Aurelian  and 
was  incorporated  in  the  defences  by  his  architects.  At  the 
Porta  San  Lorenzo  t\\G Julia  branches  off;  it  fed  the  foun- 
tain described  above  under  the  name  of  Trofei  di  Ma7'io. 
The  Claudia  and  Anio  Novus  were  carried  to  a  distributing 
station  on  the  Esquiline,  but  a  branch  running  S.W.  was 
built  by  Nero  on  brick  arches.  We  can  see  its  remains 
between  the  Porta  Maggiore  and  the  Lateran  (especially  in 
the  Villa  Wolkonsky)  and  shall  meet  with  them  again 
on  the  Caslian  and  in  the  valley  between  that  hill  and 
the  Palatine,  to  which  the  aqueduct  was  continued  by 
Domitian. 

On  the  Porta  Maggiore  we  can  read,  above  the  original 
inscription  of  Claudius,  those  of  Vespasian  and  Titus,  which 
record  the  restorations  already  made  necessary,  probably  by 
defects  in  the  original  structure,  from  the  building  of  which 
handsome  profits  were  doubtless  made  by  the  freedmen  of 


X.]  THE  EASTERN  HEIGHTS  225 

Claudius  in  the  shape  of  blackmail  levied  on  the  con- 
tractors. 

Just  outside  the  gate,  where  two  roads  diverge — the  Via 
Praenestina,  leading  to  Palestrina,  and  the  Via  Labicana,  by 
which  Tusculum  could  be  reached — is  an  interesting  tomb, 
that  of  the  baker  M.  Vergilius  Eurysaces,  built  in  the  first 
century  B.C.  It  was  concealed  for  many  years  by  a  tower  flank- 
ing the  Porta  Maggiore,  which  was  pulled  down  in  1838.  It 
is  built  of  concrete  faced  with  travertine,  and  is  not 
quite  square  in  shape.  Its  decoration  consists  in  rows 
of  stone  cylinders,  representing  measures  of  grain,  and 
above  them  a  frieze  with  reliefs  showing  the  processes  of 
bread-making. 

It  is  but  a  short  distance  from  the  Porta  Maggiore  to 
the  church  of  S.  Croce  in  Gerusalemme.  Close  by  this 
church,  on  the  N.E.,  are  the  ruins  of  a  fine  hall  with  an 
apse  or  exedra^  and  many  other  remains  have  been  found 
both  within  and  without  the  wall  of  Aurelian,  which 
show  that  a  palace  existed  on  this  spot  before  that  wall  was 
built.  It  has  been  identified  as  the  Sessorium,  one  of 
whose  halls  was  converted  by  Constantine  the  Great  into 
the  church  of  S.  Croce  (ruthlessly  modernised  in  1742)  in 
order  to  house  the  True  Cross  discovered  by  his  mother 
Helena.  (Considerable  remains  of  the  "  Baths  of  Helena  " 
once  existed  in  the  Vigna  Conti  to  the  E.  of  the  Via  di  S. 
Croce,  and  a  large  reservoir  by  which  they  were  supplied 
may  still  be  seen.) 

On  the  other  side  of  S.  Croce  are  the  ruins  of  an  Amphi- 
theatre which  has  been  utilised  as  part  of  the  fortifications 
of  Aurelian.  It  was  once  three  storeys  high,  but  little  is 
now  left  of  it  except  the  outer  wall  of  the  lower  story,  a  fine 
specimen  of  Imperial  brickwork,  which  it  is  difiicult  to  date. 
The  arcades,  separated  by  Corinthian  columns  carrying  a 
cornice,  were  of  course  originally  open.  There  can  be  no 
doubt  that  this  is  the  Amphitheatruin  cas f reuse  or  "  Court 
Amphitheatre" — the  Imperial  residence  was  technically 
called  the  "  camp  "—mentioned  in  ancient  anthorities. 

The  Via  di  Santa  Croce  takes  us  back  to  the  Piazza 
Q 


226  THE  EASTERN  HEIGHTS  [x. 

Vittorio  Emanuele,  and  the  Via  Leopardi  leads  thence  to 
the  Via  Merulana,  a  broad  street  connecting  S.  Maria 
Maggiore  with  the  Lateran,  but  not  quite  coinciding  with 
the  ancient  road  of  the  same  name.  Here  we  find  a  build- 
ing which  bears  the  name  of  the  Auditorium  of  Maecenas, 
given  to  it  when  it  was  discovered  in  1874  because  it  was 
thought  to  be  a  lecture-hall  in  the  Gardens  of  Maecenas 
(which  in  point  of  fact  were  somewhat  farther  to  the  north). 
It  is  a  room  with  an  apse  or  exedra  at  one  end,  in  which  are 
seven  stages  like  the  tiers  of  seats  in  a  theatre.  It  has  been 
suggested  that  these  were  meant  for  flower-pots,  and  that 
the  building  was  a  greenhouse.  Certainly  the  wall-paintings 
(now  much  faded)  are  intended  to  create  the  illusion  of 
a  garden  or  park,  just  as  in  the  Villa  of  Livia  at  Prima 
Porta  and  the  remains  of  the  Domus  Publica  (p.  74).  The 
building  is  a  very  good  example  of  opus  reticulatum  (p.  16) 
as  used  under  the  Early  Empire  with  brick-shaped  blocks 
of  tufa  at  the  angles  of  walls. 

Fragments  of  the  Servian  wall  are  to  be  seen  to  the  S.  of 
the  "  Auditorium." 

[The  Palazzo  Brancaccio-Field,  on  the  opposite  side  of  the 
Via  Merulana,  stands  on  the  neck  of  land  connecting  the 
spur  called  the  Oppius  with  the  plateau  of  the  EsquiHne. 
From  this  point  the  Via  Giovanni  Lanza  runs  down  the  dip  be- 
tween the  Oppius  and  a  more  northerly  spur,  the  Cispius, 
and  joins  the  Via  Cavour  in  the  valley  of  the  5ubura.  The 
Via  Urbana  (parallel  with  the  upper  part  of  the  Via  Cavour) 
corresponds  nearly  to  the  ancient  Vicus  Patricius^  which  ran 
up  the  narrow  valley  between  the  Cispius  and  the  Viminal. 
A  very  early  cemetery  (of  about  the  same  date  as  that 
adjoining  the  Sacred  Way,  p.  76)  existed  within  the  line  of 
the  Servian  wall,  near  S.  Martino  di  Monti,  and  tombs  of 
later  date,  with  imported  Greek  vases,  etc.,  have  been 
found  outside  the  Porta  Esquilina. 

The  Oppius  was  almost  entirely  included  in  the  Qolden 
House  of  Nero.  Even  before  the  fire  of  a.d.  64  he  had 
built  the  Domus  transitoria,  which  connected  the  Imperial 
residence  on  the  Palatine  with  the  Gardens  of  Maecenas,  and 


X.]  THE  EASTERN  HEIGHTS  227 

when  this  was  destroyed  he  set  about  rebuilding  on  a  scale 
of  unsurpassed  magnificence.  He  did  not  live  to  see  his 
plan  fully  carried  out,  and  Otho  spent  large  sums  on  the 
work  ;  but  the  Flavian  emperors  destroyed  most  of  the 
buildings  in  order  to  gain  popularity.  Titus  built  his  Baths 
on  the  edge  of  the  Oppius,  and  Trajan,  after  a  fire  in  A.D.  104 
which  worked  havoc  in  this  region,  built  his  own  Thermae 
on  the  parts  of  the  Golden  House  which  the  flames  had 
spared.] 

The  remains  of  the  Imperial  buildings  are  chiefly  to  be 
seen  in  two  places.  Behind  the  Palazzo  Brancaccio-Field  is 
a  large  reservoir  consisting  of  nine  parallel  vaulted  chambers 
(beneath  which  is  said  to  be  a  lower  story)  called  the  Sette 
Sale^  which  is  not  as  a  rule  accessible  ;  and  if,  on  leaving  the 
Auditorium  of  Miecenas,  we  take  the  Via  di  Mecenate 
(which  passes  close  by  the  reservoir),  we  reach  the  Via 
Labicana  at  the  foot  of  the  hill.  Here,  on  the  R.,  is  the 
entrance  to  the  remains  popularly  known  as  the  Terme  di 
Tito.  What  we  see  here  are  the  foundations  of  a  great 
semicircular  exedra  like  that  of  the  Baths  of  Diocletian 
(p.  198)  which  projected  from  the  S.W.  front  of  the  Baths 
of  Trajan.  These  foundations  consist  partly  of  a  series  of 
parallel  walls  running  from  S.W.  to  N.E.  in  the  direction  of 
the  shorter  axis  of  Trajan's  enclosure,  and  partly  of  a  num- 
ber of  rooms  which  belonged  to  the  Golden  House  of  Nero ; 
This  later  was  set  at  quite  a  different  angle,  facing  nearly 
due  S.  The  most  interesting  feature  of  these  remains  is 
a  suite  of  seven  rooms  divided  by  partitions  into  two  halves 
facing  N.  and  S.  (to  the  N.  was  an  open  court  or  garden 
intersected  by  the  foundation-walls  of  Trajan's  Baths).  The 
frescoes  on  the  walls  and  vaults,  though  sadly  faded,  still 
give  some  idea  of  the  elegance  of  the  ancient  decorations. 
Unfortunately  the  rooms  beyond  this  suite,  which  were  much 
more  richly  decorated — one  in  particular  had  a  roof  adorned 
with  paintings  framed  in  mouldings  of  gilded  stucco,  called 
the  "  Golden  Vault " — have  long  been  reburied.  When  first 
discovered  in  the  fifteenth  century,  these  wall-paintings  in- 
spired Raphael  and  his  fellow  artists,  and  the  Loggie  of  the 


228  THE  EASTERN  HEIGHTS  [x. 

Vatican  show  manifest  traces  of  their  influence.  The  Lao- 
coon  (p.  300)  was  not,  as  is  often  said,  found  here,  but 
farther  to  the  N.,  near  the  Sette  Sale.  Pliny  tells  us  that  it 
stood  "  in  the  house  of  the  Emperor  Titus,"  which  may  have 
been  a  part  of  Nero's  palace. 


XI 

THE   C/ELIAN   AND  AVENTINE 

P'"  I  ''HE  two  southernmost  hills  of  Rome,  which  (with 
|_  J^  their  adjoining  valleys)  are  described  in  this  chapter, 
differ  widely  in  character  and  history.  The  Caelian  is  a 
long,  narrow  spur  which  juts  out  from  the  eastern  plateau 
and  ends  in  the  height  facing  the  Palatine  on  the  S.E, 
It  seems  to  have  been  partly  included  in  the  Septimontium^ 
and  its  western  part  lay  within  the  Servian  line  of  defence. 
It  was  thickly  inhabited  under  the  Later  Republic,  but  was 
devastated  by  a  fire  in  a.d.  27,  and  afterwards  became  a 
fashionable  quarter,  covered  with  the  palaces  of  the  new 
aristocracy,  who  were  now  excluded  from  the  Palatine  by 
the  extension  of  the  Imperial  palaces. 

The  Aventine  proper  is  a  hill  of  much  the  same  shape 
and  character  as  the  Palatine,  separated  from  it  by  a 
narrow  valley,  and  overlooking  the  Tiber  with  its  sheer 
cliffs  on  the  northern  side.  Separated  from  it  by  a  narrow 
depression  is  a  more  southerly  height  (crowned  by  the 
church  of  S.  Saba)  which  is  popularly  called  the  Lesser 
Aventine.  Part  of  it,  which  faces  the  W.  extremity  of  the 
Caelian,  was  included  in  the  Servian  defences,  but  it  con- 
tained no  buildings  of  great  importance,  and  played  no  part 
in  the  history  of  the  city.  The  Aventine  itself  was  not 
included  within  the  sacred  boundary  of  the  pomerium  until 
the  reign  of  Claudius.  Tradition  has  it  that  it  remained  un- 
occupied (except  by  temples^)  and  for  the  most  part  wooded 
until  in  456  B.C.  it  was  parcelled  out  in  lots  among  the 

^  The  most  important  of  these  was  the  Temple  of  Diana,  a 
federal  sanctuary  of  the  early  Latin  League. 

229 


230  THE   C^LIAN  AND  A  VENTINE  [xi. 

plebeians  ;  and  it  retained  throughout  the  history  of  the 
Republic  the  character  thus  given  to  it.  Under  the  Empire 
it  gradually  changed  its  aspect,  and,  like  the  Cai^lian, 
became  the  resort  of  the  aristocracy  to  whom  the  Palatine 
was  no  longer  open  as  a  place  of  residence. 

In  the  valley  between  the  Aventine  and  Cc-elian  the  two 
main  roads  from  Rome  to  the  S.— the  Via  Latina  and  Via 
Appia— had  their  starting  point.  The  old  city  g2X^— Porta 
Capena—yN2iS  near  the  S.  angle  of  the  Palatine,  and  a 
suburb  grew  up  about  the  two  roads  (which  diverged  at 
some  distance  from  the  gate).  They  were  flanked  with 
tombs,  temples,  and  columbaria.  On  the  right  the  great 
Baths  of  Caracalla  were  built  against  the  slope  of  the  Lesser 
Aventine.  All  this  region  is  to  be  thoroughly  explored  and 
converted  into  a  zona  monumentale  for  the  preservation  of 
ancient  remains.  Between  the  Aventine  and  the  Palatine 
was  the  Circus  Maximus,  which  dates  from  very  early  times 
and  became  one  of  the  most  magnificent  buildings  in  Rome ; 
and  between  this  and  the  river  was  the  Forum  Boarium^  or 
cattle  market,  surrounded  by  sanctuaries  which  have  not 
wholly  perished. 

To  the  W.  of  the  Aventine  the  low-lying  ground  by  the 
river  was  covered  with  docks  and  warehouses  ;  a  visible 
memorial  of  the  trade  which  passed  through  this  quarter 
under  the  Empire  may  be  seen  in  the  "  Monte  Testaccio " 
(p.  263).] 

We  take  as  our  starting-point  the  Piazza  of  the  Lateran, 
which  is  easily  reached  by  tram  from  any  part  of  Rome. 
Here  the  Cselian  may  be  said  to  begin,  although  the  line 
which  divides  it  from  the  Esquiline  is  hard  to  trace.  (It  has 
been  supposed,  without  definite  reason,  that  there  was  a 
depression  between  the  Caslian  and  Esquiline  which  was 
artificially  filled.)  The  Lateran  takes  it  name  from  the 
family  of  the  Laterani,  to  one  of  whom  (consul  in  a.d.  197) 
Septimius  Severus  presented  a  palace  on  this  site.  By  the 
time  of  Constantine  it  had,  reverted  to  the  Emperors, 
and  he  bestowed  it  on  the  Church  ;  remains  of  its  walls 
have  been  discovered  under  the  Basilica  of  S.  Giovanni. 


XI.]  THE   C^LIAN  AND  AVENTINE  231 

It  was  the  residence  of  the  Popes  throughout  the  Middle 
Ages. 

In  the  modern  palace  is  the  Museum  of  the  Lateran, 

formed  in  1844  by  Gregory  XVI  to  house  the  overflow  of  the 
Vatican  collections.  The  Christian  Museum,  on  the  upper 
floor,  is  described  in  Christian  Rome^  page  S3  ff.  The 
Museo  Profano  is  on  the  ground  floor,  and  the  rooms  are 
numbered  continuously,  beginning  at  the  S.W.  corner  (the 
farthest  to  the  L.  from  the  entrance). 

In  Room  I  notice  on  the  floor  part  of  a  mosaic  pave- 
ment, the  remainder  of  which  may  be  seen  on  the  upper 
floor.  It  was  found  in  the  Baths  of  Caracalla,  but  dates 
from  the  fourth  century,  and  represents  athletes,  trainers, 
and  implements  used  in  the  gymnasium.  The  figures  on 
the  fragment  in  this  room  are  boxers. 

On  the  entrance  wall  to  L.  are  some  interesting  reliefs. 
8  represents  Helen  about  to  step  into  the  ship  of  Paris  ;  it 
may  be  Greek  work,  but  is  badly  weathered.  10  is  a  late 
Greek  grave-rehef  The  dead  man  is  portrayed  as  a  hero, 
with  his  horse  by  his  side  and  his  shield  and  sword  hanging 
to  the  L.  He  is  taking  leave  of  his  young  wife.  The 
serpent  coiled  about  the  bay  tree  is  a  constant  adjunct  of 
the  tomb  in  Greek  art,  and  was  believed  to  embody  the 
spirit  of  the  deceased.  1 1  is  a  curious  relief,  partly  severe, 
almost  archaic  in  style,  yet  with  late  elements  such  as  the 
landscape  background.  It  may  represent  the  child  Asclepios 
(the  god  of  healing)  found  by  the  hero  Antolaos  in  the 
mountains  of  Arcadia.  Notice  the  holes  in  the  horn  and 
drinking-cup  which  show  that  it  was  used  as  a  fountain. 

On  the  L.  wall  is  (13)  a  fine  fragment  of  relief  with  two 
boxers,  which  was  drawn  (with  restorations)  by  Raphael  ; 
it  would  seem  to  be  of  the  time  of  Trajan,  but  there  is  no 
ground  for  thinking  that  it  came  from  his  Forum. 

20  is  the  lower  half  of  the  relief  of  which  we  saw  the 
upper  portion  in  the  Museo  delle  Terme  (p.  217).  It  was 
supposed  to  have  come  from  Trajan's  Forum,  and  Thor- 
waldsen  therefore  restored  the  figure  of  the  Emperor  with  a 
head  of  Trajan  ;  but  if  the  temple  in  the  background  be  that 


23-2  THE   CAHLIAN  AND  AVENTINE  [xi. 

of  Venus  and  Rome,  the  relief  must  be  at  least  as  late  as 
Hadrian's  reign.  The  Emperor,  whoever  he  is,  is  attended 
by  his  lictors  (notice  the  fasces^  or  bundles  of  rods)  and  is 
taking  part  in  some  public  ceremony  in  front  of  the  temple. 
It  is  far  from  certain  that  thcrelief  came  from  Trajan's  Forum. 

In  26  we  have  a  good  example  of  the  "  landscape  reliefs  " 
which  were  used,  apparently  in  Hellenistic  times,  and  cer- 
tainly from  the  Augustan  period  onwards,  for  the  decoration 
of  walls  or  fountains — in  this  case  there  is  an  opening  for  a 
jet  of  water  in  the  horn  out  of  which  the  satyr-child  is 
drinking.  The  child's  figure — turned  in  the  opposite  direc- 
tion— is  exactly  repeated  in  a  fragment  in  the  Galleria  dei 
Candelabri  (p.  zyj)-)  which  is  of  far  better  workmanship 
and  was  found  on  the  Palatine.  This  shows  that  the  com- 
position was  a  well-known  one.  Notice  the  interest  shown 
by  the  artist  in  animal  life  (bird's  nest  threatened  by  snake, 
eagle  devouring  hare,  goats  browsing). 

On  the  wall  facing  the  entrance  is  (34)  a  grave-relief 
representing  the  chariot  races  of  the  circus  with  much  in- 
teresting detail. 

By  the  exit-wall  are  some  interesting  torsos  ;  notice  46,  a 
replica  of  the  fifth-century  figure  copied  by  Stephanus,  who 
has  already  been  mentioned.  (The  statue  by  Stephanus  is  in 
the  Villa  Albani.) 

In  Room  II  are  a  large  number  of  architectural  frag- 
ments, from  which  we  can  get  a  good  impression  of  the 
characteristic  features  of  Roman  ornament.  Notice  especi- 
ally 86  and  168,  two  fragments  of  a  frieze  which  complete 
each  other  :  it  represented  Erotes  pouring  out  wine  for 
Griffins.  These  came  from  the  Forum  of  Trajan,  as  did 
also  (160)  the  frieze  with  acanthus  ornament.  This  latter 
affords  an  excellent  illustration  of  what  was  said  on  p.  26 
as  to  the  over-elaboration  by  the  Romans  of  the  simpler 
vegetable  motives  used  by  the  Greeks.  Where  the  Greek 
artist  would  have  shown  a  plain  stem  and  allowed  the 
graceful  curve  to  speak  for  itself,  the  Roman  enwrapped  it 
with  rich  acanthus  foliage,  practically  annihilating  the  back- 
ground and  giving  the  eye  no  place  of  repose. 


XL]  THE   C^LIAN  AND  AVENTINE  233 

In  Room  III,  by  the  R.  wall,  is  (256)  a  statue  of  Antinous, 
the  favourite  of  Hadrian  (p.  279),  represented  as  Vertumnus, 
a  god  of  the  seasons,  holding  the  fruits  of  the  earth  in  his 
lap.  The  head  is  restored,  but  rightly  so,  since  Antinous 
can  be  recognised  by  the  very*  individual  conformation  of 
the  chest.  258  is  a  small  (child's)  sarcophagus  with  scenes 
from  the  gymnasium. 

In  room  IV,  to  the  R.,  is  (278)  a  very  fine  Greek  relief, 
which  represents  Medea  and  the  daughters  of  Pelias. 
Medea  persuaded  them  that  they  could  restore  their  father's 
youth  by  cutting  him  in  pieces  and  boiling  his  limbs  with 
magical  herbs.  The  preparations  for  this  horrible  deed  are 
here  represented  with  the  subtle  self-restraint  of  fifth-century 
Greek  art.  To  the  L.  is  the  sorceress,  with  an  Oriental  head- 
dress and  sleeved  tunic,  holding  a  box  of  herbs,  and  on  the 
R.  is  the  finely  conceived  figure  of  a  daughter  of  Pelias, 
whose  uneasy  conscience  is  betrayed  by  her  gestures.  We 
saw  a  fragmentary  relief  of  this  class  in  the  Museo  delle 
Terme  ;  and  there  is  a  famous  one  in  the  Villa  Albani  which 
represents  Orpheus,  Hermes,  and  Eurydice.  These  monu- 
ments all  belong  to  the  middle  of  the  fifth  century  B.C.  :  they 
all  represent  three  figures  only,  and  they  breathe  the  spirit 
of  Attic  tragedy.  Probably  they  were  votive  offerings  set 
up  by  tragic  poets  in  commemoration  of  their  victories  in 
dramatic  contests. 

291  is  a  good  specimen  of  the  Imperial  statues  of  the 
Julio-Claudian  period.  It  was  found  at  Veii,  and  is  a  portrait 
either  of  Drusus  the  Elder  (brother  of  Tiberius)  or  of  his 
son  Germanicus— most  probably  the  former. 

By  the  exit- wall  is  a  statue  (319)  restored  with  a  head  ot 
Mars,  a  portrait-bust  (352)  of  some  prince  of  the  Claudian 
house,  a  poor  replica  (348)  of  the  "  Marble  Faun,"  and  (356, 
on  a  bracket)  a  good  copy  of  the  head  of  the  athlete  of 
Stephanus  (p.  232). 

Room  V  contains  some  animal  subjects — a  cow  (406)  and 
a  stag  (399)  in  basalt,  upon  which  a  figure  of  Artemis  was 
once  seated.  396  and  405  (by  the  back  wall)  are  herms  with 
slender  shafts  representing  Pan  and  his  female   counter- 


234  THE  C^LIAN  AND  AVENTINE  [xi. 

part,  Panisca,  or  perhaps  rather  two  Italian  divinities, 
Paunus  and  Fauna,  embodied  in  forms  derived  from 
Greek  art. 

.  Notice  in  the  centre  (391)  the  group  of  Mithras  slaying 
the  bull.  The  religion  of  Mithras  was  of  Persian  origin  : 
Mithras  was  the  God  of  Celestial  Light  who  led  his  wor- 
shippers to  victory  in  the  secular  struggle  with  the  powers  of 
darkness.  His  worship  became  immensely  popular,  espe- 
cially amongst  the  soldiers  and  the  lower  classes  of  society, 
who  were  admitted  to  its  mysteries,  in  the  second  century 
A.D.,  and  was  in  fact  at  one  time  a  serious  rival  to  Christian- 
ity. In  each  of  the  chapels  in  which  its  rites  were  celebrated 
the  place  of  the  altar  in  a  Christian  church  was  taken  by 
such  a  group  as  that  before  us,  representing  the  act  from 
which  the  order  of  creation  sprang — for  the  slaying  of  the 
bull  fertilised  the  earth  and  caused  it  to  bring  forth  its 
abundant  harvests,  in  spite  of  the  machinations  of  the  Evil 
One  (Ahriman),  here  represented  under  the  form  of  a 
scorpion.  The  group  of  Mithras  and  the  bull  is  borrowed 
from  that  of  Victory  sacrificing  an  ox  so  common  in 
Greek  art. 

Notice  also  the  ash-chest  (407)  with  the  figures  of  boys 
with  fighting -cocks.  The  fight  is  over,  and  one  of  the  boys 
is  carrying  away  the  body  of  the  slain  cock  in  tears. 
Notice  that  the  name  of  the  person  whose  ashes  were  con- 
tained in  the  chest  has  not  been  filled  in. 

In  Room  VI  are  a  number  of  sculptures  found  at  Cervetri, 
the  ancient  Ca:re,  on  the  site  of  the  theatre.  They  are  good 
examples  of  the  conventional  style  of  Imperial  portraiture 
under  the  first  dynasty.  428  is  a  head  of  Augustus,  435  and 
437  seated  statues  of  Tiberius  and  Claudius  wearing  the  oak- 
wreath  or  corona  ctvica,  433  and  439  figures  of  Imperial 
personages  in  full  armour,  conceived  as  haranguing  their 
troops.  433  has  a  restored  plaster  head,  439  may  be  Drusus 
the  Elder  or  Germanicus  (see  p.  233).  436  is  a  princess  ot 
the  Claudian  house — perhaps  Octavia,  the  daughter  of 
Claudius  ;  while  445  may  have  represented  Drusilla,  the 
sister  of  Caligula,  as  an  inscription  bearing  her  name  was 


XI.]  THE  C^LIAN  AND  AVENTINE  235 

found  with  it,  but  the  head  (an  ideal  type)  does  not  belong 
to  the  statue.  The  statue  in  the  toga  (438)  and  bust  (444) 
cannot  be  identified. 

442  is  an  interesting  relief  adorned  with  personifications 
of  the  chief  cities  of  Etruria  :  it  was  a  common  practice  of 
Roman  artists  to  translate  statues  in  the  round  into  relief, 
as  is  here  done.  The  names  of  the  cities  are  inscribed  on 
the  pedestals — to  L.  Vetulonia,  a  young  man  standing  beside 
a  pine-tree  and  holding  a  rudder,  then  Volci,  a  seated  female 
figure  holding  a  bird  in  her  R.  hand,  finally  Tarquinii,  a  man 
in  the  garb  of  a  sacrificing  priest.  Perhaps  the  fragment 
belonged  to  the  base  of  the  statue  of  Claudius,  who  wrote 
a  history  of  the  Etruscan  league  in  Greek. 

The  altar  (448)  was  dedicated  to  a  local  magnate  of 
Caere,  Gaius  Manlius,  by  his  clients.  It  resembles  the  altar 
of  the  Vicomagistri  in  the  Palazzo  dei  Conservatori  (p.  1 38) 
in  having  a  scene  of  sacrifice  (carefully  rendered  in  detail) 
on  the  front  and  figures  of  Lares  at  the  sides.  On  the  back 
we  see  enthroned  the  goddess  to  whom  the  sacrifice  was 
offered — the  Fortune  of  Caere  amidst  her  worshippers. 

Room  VII  contains  the  two  most  important  statues  in  the 
museum.  462  is  a  copy  of  the  famous  Marsyas  of  Myron, 
whose  discobolus  we  saw  in  the  Museo  delle  Terme  (p.  219). 
As  already  explained  (p.  143),  the  legend  told  how  the  Satyr 
picked  up  the  flute  which  Athena  had  thrown  away  ;  and 
an  Attic  vase-painting  shows  Marsyas  starting  back  in 
astonishment  at  Athena's  actions  in  much  the  same  attitude 
as  that  in  which  he  is  here  represented.  The  castanets  are 
due  to  the  modern  restorer,  and  we  must  remember  that  for 
the  bronze  original,  which  was  lightly  poised  upon  the  toes, 
supports  were  not  needed.  We  see  how  in  this  case,  as  in 
that  of  the  discobolus,  Myron  chose  his  subject  in  order  to 
display  the  consummate  skill  with  which  he  could  depict 
the  human  body  at  full  tension  in  an  attitude  which  could 
only  be  maintained  for  a  brief  moment :  we  can  also  under- 
stand the  remark  of  the  ancient  critics  that  his  heads  were 
lacking  in  expression. 

The  statue  of  Sophocles  (476)  has  been  supposed  to  be  a 


236  THE  C^LIAN  AND  AVENTINE  [xi. 

Greek  original^  but  is  rather  a  copy  in  marble  irom  the 
bronze  set  up  about  340  B.C.  in  the  theatre  at  Athens.  In  the 
Room  of  the  Philosophers  (p.  117)  we  saw  examples  of 
the  type  of  Sophocles  belonging  to  the  poet's  lifetime  ;  here 
we  have  a  free  rendering  in  the  style  of  a  later  age.  It  has 
well  been  said  that  the  statue  "bears  the  character  of  a 
public  monument "  ;  and  we  must  think  of  it  as  grouped 
with  figures  of  ^schylus  and  Euripides  ;  one  of  these  may 
be  represented  by  a  statue  in  the  Braccio  Nuovo  (p.  326). 
It  would  be  waste  of  words  to  praise  or  analyse  the  simple 
yet  perfectly  adequate  conception  of  the  poet  who  "  saw  life 
steadily  and  saw  it  whole." 

Passing  into  Room  VIII  we  see  immediately  to  the  L.  of 
the  entrance  a  highly  finished  relief  (487)  of  a  comic  poet 
in  his  study  examining  a  mask :  two  other  masks  and  a 
scroll — doubtless  containing  the  text  of  the  play  to  which 
they  belong — lie  on  the  table  in  front  of  him.  The  masks 
are  those  of  the  typical  characters  of  the  New  Comedy — 
the  young  man,  the  girl,  and  the  elderly  father  ;  and  the 
seated  figure  is  in  all  probability  Menander.  The  female 
figure  seems  to  be  ideal  in  type,  and  therefore  to  represent 
a  Muse.  The  workmanship  is  good,  and  may  date  from 
Hellenistic  times. 

In  the  centre  of  the  room  is  (534)  a  statue  of  Poseidon 
(Neptune)  found  at  Porto,  near  Ostia,  where  Claudius  built 
a  fresh  harbour  for  Rome.  It  is  a  Roman  adaptation  of  a 
Greek  type  belonging  to  the  school  of  Lysippus. 

Notice  at  the  back  of  the  room  two  fragments  (502  and 
515)  of  high  relief  with  heads — one  bearded,  probably  a 
lictor,  the  other  beardless,  of  aristocratic  features.  These 
must  have  belonged  to  some  important  monument,  perhaps 
a  triumphal  arch  of  Domitian  ;  for  the  excellence  of  the 
work  points  to  the  Flavian  period. 

In  Room  IX  we  find  more  architectural  fragments : 
notice  especially  a  pilaster  (near  the  exit)  decorated  with 
vine  leaves,  deeply  undercut :  figures  of  Erotes  (now  cut 
away)  were  clambering  among  them  and  plucking  the 
grapes.     It  is  a  good  example  of  later  Roman  ornament — 


XI.]  THE   C^LIAN  AND  A  VENTINE  237 

the  logical  development  of  the  principle  explained  on 
page  232.  582  is  a  fine  altar  of  Flavian  date,  showing  the 
same  enrichment  of  architectural  members  which  we  noticed 
in  the  cornice  of  the  Temple  of  Vespasian  (p.  149).  By 
the  entrance  wall  are  some  heads  of  lictors  belonging  to  a 
processional  frieze  which,  in  spite  of  their  small  scale,  are 
skilfully  executed,  and  may  have  belonged  to  the  same 
monument  as  the  larger  fragments  in  the  previous  room. 

In  the  centre  of  this  room  is  a  triangular  pedestal,  upon 
which  are  carved  Nymphs  and  Satyrs.  The  design  is 
eminently  graceful,  and  may  have  been  directly  copied  from 
a  pedestal  supporting  one  of  the  tripods  dedicated  at  Athens 
by  victorious  dramatic  poets  in  the  "Street  of  Tripods." 
It  was  found  in  the  Forum. 

Most  of  the  sculptures  in  Room  IX  come  from  the  family 
tomb  of  the  Haterii  on  the  Via  Labicana  (about  three  miles 
from  Porta  Maggiore).  They  vary  greatly  in  artistic  merit, 
and  are  doubtless  not  all  of  one  period.  Three  of  them  are 
interesting  on  account  of  their  subjects,  and  the  detail  with 
which  these  are  rendered.  690  (opposite  the  window)  shows 
the  corpse  lying  in  state  (the  collocatid)  on  the  lectusfunebris. 
At  the  foot  are  the  tablets  containing  the  will  of  the  dead 
person.  Behind  the  bed  are  hired  mourners  {prceJiccE),  and 
in  front  of  it  is  a  flute-player.  The  mourners  wearing  caps 
are  thereby  shown  to  be  slaves  set  free  by  the  will. 

719,  by  the  exit-wall,  is  of  great  topographical  importance 
since  it  represents  part  of  the  Sacred  Way,  by  which  the 
funeral  procession  left  the  Forum  after  the  delivery  of  the 
oration  {laudaiid).  Unfortunately  it  is  not  quite  easy  to 
identify  the  spot  from  which  the  view  is  taken.  We  see 
(l.  to  R.)  a  temple  of  Jupiter  (i.e.  Jupiter  Stator,  p.  82),  an 
arch  with  an  inscription  which  calls  it  the  "  arch  at  the  top 
of  the  Sacred  Way  "  (i.e.  that  of  Titus),  with  Roma  seated  in 
the  archway  ;  a  second  arch,  with  a  figure  of  the  Great 
Mother,  the  Colosseum  (much  abbreviated),  and  a  third 
arch  described  by  an  inscription  as  standing  "beside  the 
temple  of  Isis"  (which  was  between  the  Colosseum  and  the 
Lateran).     A  third  relief,  676,  represents  the  family  tomb,  a 


238  THE  C^LIAN  AND  A  VENTINE  [xi. 

building  in  the  form  of  a  temple,  like  so  many  of  those 
which  we  see  beside  the  Appian  Way.  To  the  L.  is  a  huge 
crane  with  a  tread-wheel,  the  significance  of  which  it  is 
hard  to  understand. 

By  the  entrance  are  two  busts  (675  and  677)  enclosed  in 
small  shrines,  which  reproduce  the  forms  of  those  in  which 
the  waxen  busts  of  ancestors  were  kept  in  Roman  houses. 
These  are  shown  by  their  shape  to  date  from  the  close 
of  the  first  century,  and  are  good  examples  of  the  art  of 
that  time — the  best  period  of  Roman  portraiture  ;  the  snake 
coiled  about  the  male  bust  has  been  thought  to  indicate 
that  the  man  was  a  physician,  but  it  may  merely  possess  the 
significance  which  belonged  to  it  in  Greek  religion  as  a 
symbol  of  the  departed  soul. 

A  slab  in  high  relief  with  busts  of  divinities  of  the  lower 
world  (721,  by  the  exit-wall)  —  they  represent  Mercury, 
Proserpine,  Pluto,  and  Ceres,  to  give  them  their  Roman 
names — is  of  later  date.  The  best  work  is  seen  in  the  beauti- 
ful slabs  (686)  beside  the  farther  doorway,  decorated  in  relief 
with  candelabra  entwined  with  roses  in  an  exquisitely  grace- 
ful pattern — not  strictly  naturalistic,  for  the  flowers  have 
only  four  petals,  but  producing  the  illusion  of  reality 
which  an  "  impressionistic  "  treatment  gives.  These  we  can 
scarcely  put  later  than  the  Flavian  period.  Compare  them 
with  the  panel  (722)  decorated  with  branches  of  quince 
and  lemon  laden  with  fruit,  and  notice  the  skilful  "  impres- 
sionistic "  rendering  of  the  rough  skin  of  the  lemons. 

Crossing  a  passage  we  enter  Room  XI,  where  are  some 
interesting  sarcophagi  from  tombs  on  the  Via  Latina.  Three 
were  found  in  a  chamber  decorated  with  fine  paintings  and 
stuccoes,  which  are  still  to  be  seen.  The  subjects  are,  to 
R.  (751)  Dionysus  and  Ariadne  in  chariots  driven  by 
Centaurs  with  Erotes  as  postilions ;  by  the  back  wall  (769) 
three  scenes  from  the  story  of  Adonis — his  farewell  to 
Aphrodite  on  the  L.,  the  tending  of  his  wound  in  the  centre, 
and  the  hunting  of  the  boar  on  the  R. — and  on  the  lid  of 
the  sarcophagus,  which  does  not  belong  to  it,  scenes  from 
the  story  of  (Edipus  ;  lastly,  by  the  exit  wall  {3V\  Phaedra 


XI.]  THE  CAlUAN  and  A  VENTINE  239 

and  Hippolytus.  (Notice  the  group  of  Eros  and  Psyche, 
which  symbolises  the  passion  of  Phaedra.) 

In  the  centre  of  the  room  is  (792)  a  large  sarcophagus 
representing  the  triumphal  home-coming  of  Dionysus,  whose 
car  is  drawn  by  elephants,  after  his  conquest  of  India. 

Notice  by  the  exit-wall  (783)  a  Greek  votive  reHef;  the 
figure  of  the  youth  in  the  centre  is  that  of  the  dedicator, 
who  is  of  smaller  dimensions  than  the  heroes,  who  are  the 
objects  of  his  worship. 

In  Room  XII  are  three  sarcophagi  found  in  a  tomb  dated 
in  the  reign  of  Hadrian.  By  the  entrance-wall  is  (799)  one 
with  scenes  from  the  legend  of  Orestes  :  they  are  partly  the 
same  as  those  represented  on  a  sarcophagus  in  the  Galleria 
dei  Candelabri — a  good  illustration  of  the  conventional 
repertoire  used  by  the  sculptors  of  sarcophagi.  806  (by 
the  back  wall)  has  only  decorative  subjects  :  notice  the  boys 
riding  races  on  various  animals  on  the  lid.  813  (by  the 
exit- wall)  shows  the  destruction  of  the  children  of  Niobe 
by  Apollo  and  Artemis  :  the  composition  is  pictorial  in 
character  and  motives,  and  may  have  been  derived  from 
a  Hellenistic  painting.  Notice  808,  a  head  of  Augustus 
found  at  Veii  (compare  that  from  Cervetri  in  Room  VI),  and 
the  circular  base  (also  from  Veii)  in  the  centre  of  the  room, 
decorated  with  festoons,  lyres,  and  the  four  attributes  of 
Vulcan— anvil,  hammer,  tongs,  and  cap.  It  was  copied 
from  a  monument  in  the  Forum  called  the  Puteal  Libonis, 
which  stood  near  the  Temple  of  Castor  and  is  represente 
on  the  coins  of  Scribonius  Libo,  from  whom  it  took  its  name. 

In  Room  XIII,  by  the  entrance-wall,  we  see  a  grave-relief 
which  represents  a  lady  reclining  on  a  couch  :  her  hair  is 
dressed  in  the  peculiar  "  toupet "  style  characteristic  of  the 
Flavian  period  (cf.  p.  113);  her  name,  however,  is  Ulpia 
Erigone,  which  points  to  a  later  date,  since  Ulpius  was  the 
family  name  of  Trajan,  and  was  taken  by  persons  on  whom 
he  had  bestowed  citizenship.  The  explanation  is  that  an 
earlier  inscription  was  erased,  and  the  relief  used  a  second 
time.  842  is  a  fragment  of  a  frieze  representing  the  battle 
between  the  Olympic  gods  and  the  Titans,  of  which  other 


240  THE   C^LIAN  AND  AVENTINE  [xi. 

pieces  exist  in  the  Antiquarium  (p.  254)  and  the  Vatican  (see 
P-  305?  where  they  are  discussed). 

The  portrait-statue  846  is  interesting  as  a  perfect  example 
of  the  honorary  statues  of  the  later  Empire,  Notice,  how- 
ever, that  the  head  and  body  are  of  different  marbles  (Parian 
and  Luna) ;  and  that  the  workmanship  of  the  body  is  too 
good  for  the  date  of  the  statue,  which  has  had  its  original 
head  replaced  by  that  of  C.  Caslius  Saturninus,  an  Imperial 
functionary  of  the  time  of  Constantine.  The  word  DOG- 
MATii  on  the  plinth  of  the  statue  is  not  a  personal  name,  but 
a  "  signum  "  borne  by  a  group  of  persons  forming  a  kind  of 
club. 

Beside  the  back  wall  are  some  fragments  of  porphyry 
statues,  all  of  which  save  one  (discovered  under  the  apse  of 
the  Lateran  basilica)  are  stated  on  doubtful  authority  to 
have  been  found  by  the  Arch  of  Constantine.  This  costly 
material  (most  unsuitable  for  statuary)  was  used  in  late  times, 
as  we  see  from  the  sarcophagi  in  the  Vatican. 

By  the  exit-wall  is  a  finely-conceived  relief  (868)  which 
represents  Pylades  supporting  his  friend  Orestes,  who  is 
sinking  in  exhaustion  after  a  paroxysm  of  madness.  The 
motive  was  originally  invented  for  a  group  of  the  Niobids, 
in  which  one  as  yet  unwounded  caught  his  stricken  brother 
in  his  arms. 

In  Room  XIV  notice  an  unfinished  statue  (902)  of  a  bar- 
barian similar  in  type  to  the  Trajanic  figures  on  the  Arch  of 
Constantine  (p.  253).  It  shows  the  "  points  "  left  to  guide 
the  workman  in  reproducing  his  model.  There  is  also  an 
unfinished  torso  (909)  in  porphyry.  Observe  four  circular 
slabs  oi  pavonazzetto  with  inscriptions  which  show  that  the 
columns  to  which  they  belonged  (now  employed  in  the 
decoration  of  an  altar  in  S.  Andrea  della  Valle)  were  im- 
ported in  A.D.  137  for  the  use  of  the  Imperial  building  com- 
missioners.    They  were  found  at  the  "  Marmorata"  (p.  264). 

On  the  sarcophagus  (895)  with  unfinished  reliefs  repre- 
senting the  operations  of  corn-growing  and  milling  are  two 
herms,  one  (898)  of  the  young  Dionysus  (or  lacchos)  in  the 
style  of   Praxiteles,  the   other  (896)  resembling  in  feature 


XL]  THE  C^LIAN  AND  AVENTINE  241 

the  Doryphoros  of  Polyclitus  (p.  321),  possibly  an  ideal 
type  of  Heracles  by  that  sculptor. 

On  the  floor  are  the  remains  of  a  mosaic  pavement  signed 
by  a  Greek  artist,  Heraclitus,  but  undoubtedly  copied  (or 
else  adapted)  from  a  well-known  original  at  Pergamon  by  a 
certain  Sosus.  This  was  called  the  "unswept  room,'*  and 
we  see  the  remains  of  a  meal — oysters,  shell-fish,  vegetables, 
grapes,  nuts,  etc. — littered  on  the  floor ;  notice  the  mouse 
gnawing  at  a  nut.  In  the  centre  of  the  room  was  a  mosaic 
(now  destroyed)  with  a  narrow  edging  of  landscape  in  the 
Egyptian  style.  Such  a  mosaic-picture  (of  which  the  Doves 
of  the  Capitol  (p.  108)  furnish  a  good  example)  let  into  the 
centre  of  a  pavement  such  as  we  see  here  was  called  an 
embletna. 

The  last  two  rooms  contain  sculptures,  etc.,  found  in 
excavations  at  Ostia  carried  on  in  1 861-9.  ^"^  Room  XV 
notice  (972)  a  head  of  Attis,  distinguished  by  the  Phrygian 
cap  from  the  type  of  the  Sun-god  which  the  artist  has 
copied.  It  was  found  in  the  sanctuary  of  the  Great  Mother 
Cybele,  in  whose  worship  he  played  a  conspicuous  part. 
There  is  a  recHning  figure  of  Attis  in  the  last  room  (1061), 
crowned  with  pine-cones,  pomegranates,  etc.,  and  bearing 
other  symbols  which  show  him  to  be  a  "  vegetation-god." 
In  Room  XV  is  a  mosaic  niche  with  a  figure  of  Sil- 
vanus  ;  notice  the  blue  nimbus^  which  passed  into  Chris- 
tian art. 

In  the  last  room  are  three  wall-paintings  from  tombs 
found  between  Ostia  and  Laurentum.  1064  represents  the 
parting  of  Orpheus  and  Eurydice,  with  the  door  of  Hades  to 
the  L.  guarded  by  a  youthful  watchman  and  the  three- 
headed  Cerberus,  and  on  the  R.  Oknos  weaving  a  rope, 
which  an  ass  is  constantly  gnawing  behind  his  back — a  type 
of  the  fruitlessness  of  human  effort,  which  Polygnotus  had 
represented  in  his  fresco  of  the  Lower  World  at  Delphi. 
1065  shows  Proserpine  pursued  by  Pluto,  1063  a  scene  from 
the  drama.  1043  is  a  bronze  statuette  of  Aphrodite,  who 
originally  held  a  mirror  in  her  L.  hand  and  an  instrument 
for  laying  on  face-paint  in  her  R. 


242  THE  C.ELIAN  AND  AVENTINE         [xi. 

Leaving  the  museum,  we  may  notice  in  the  piazza  the 
obelisk  of  Thothmes  III,  brought  to  Rome  by  Constan- 
tius  II  in  the  fourth  century  to  adorn  the  Circus  Maximus, 
and  transferred  hither  in  the  sixteenth  ;  it  is  the  largest  in 
the  world. 

We  now  take  the  Via  di  S.  Stefano  rotondo,  which  runs 
along  the  crest  of  the  Ccielian  beside  the  arches  of  Nero's  ex- 
tension of  the  Claudian  aqueduct.  We  soon  reach  the 
church  of  S.  Stefano  rotondo  {Christian  Rome,  p.  222)  which 
stands  on  the  foundations  of  the  central  building  {tholus)  of 
the  Market  built  by  Nero  in  A.D.  59.  The  present  structure 
is  almost  entirely  a  work  of  the  fourth  century  A. D.,  converted 
to  Christian  uses  in  the  fifth,  but  it  was  rebuilt  on  the  old 
foundations  :  the  coins  of  Nero  show  that  it  had  two  orders 
of  columns  and  a  cupola.  The  market  was  a  square  en- 
closure with  stalls,  in  the  centre  of  which  this  building 
stood  ;  that  of  Pompeii  is  similar  in  plan. 

From  this  point  three  streets  diverge,  all  on  ancient  lines 
of  road.  The  Via  della  Navicella  leads  to  the  entrance  of 
the  Villa  Mattel,  which  should  be  visited  for  the  sake  of  its 
magnificent  view  of  the  Campagna ;  the  antiques  which  it 
contains  are  not  of  great  importance.  The  obehsk  which 
stands  in  its  grounds  was  a  conspicuous  object  on  the 
Capitol — where  the  Museo  Capitolino  now  stands — during 
the  Middle  Ages. 

The  Via  di  S.  Giovanni  e  Paolo  and  the  Via  Claudia, 
which  represent  the  ancient  Clivus  Scauri  and  Vicus  Capitis 
Africce,  skirts  the  northernmost  spur  of  the  Cnslian,  upon 
which  stood  the  Temple  of  Claudius,  built  by  his  widow 
Agrippina,  almost  entirely  destroyed  by  Nero,  who  en- 
closed the  site  in  the  Park  of  his  Golden  House,  but  re- 
stored by  Vespasian.  The  Garden  of  the  Passionists  is 
almost  exactly  coextensive  with  the  platform,  partly  carried 
on  substructures,  upon  which  the  temple  with  its  surround- 
ing  gardens^   stood;  and  in  both   the   streets   mentioned 

^  One  would  have  expected  to  find  the  enclosure  surrounded  by 
a  porticus  or  colonnade ;  but  the  fragment  of  the  Marble  Plan 
which  marks  the  temple  does  not  show  any  trace  of  such  a  thing. 


XI.]  THE  C^LIAN  AND  AVENTINE  243 

above  we  may  see  traces  of  the  retaining  walls.  If  we 
descend  the  Via  di  S.  Giovanni  e  Paolo,  passing  the  Arch 
of  Dolabella  and  5ilanus,  consuls  in  a.d.  10,  which  was 
used  first  for  the  Marcian  and  afterwards  for  the  Claudian 
aqueduct,  we  come  to  the  church  of  those  saints,  under  which 
are  the  remains  of  an  ancient  house,  described  in  Christian 
Rome,  p.  225  f. ;  and  beneath  the  campanile  of  the  church 
is  a  two-storeyed  arcade  of  travertine  with  "rusticated" 
pilasters  exactly  like  those  of  the  Porta  Maggiore— a  fashion 
of  the  time  of  Claudius  and  Nero.  If,  on  the  other  hand, 
we  descend  the  Via  Claudia,  we  see  on  our  L.  a  series  of 
square  and  semicircular  niches  in  brickwork,  due  either  to 
Nero  or  to  Vespasian,  which  served  as  fountains. 

The  Via  Claudia  leads  us  to  the  valley  between  the 
Esquiline,  Caelian,  and  Palatine,  where  Nero  caused  an 
artificial  lake— the  "  Pool  of  Nero  "—to  be  formed  in  the 
Park  of  the  Golden  House.  Vespasian  drained  the  lake, 
and  began  the  construction  of  an  amphitheatre  on  the  site. 
It  was  not  completed  in  his  Hfetime,  but  inaugurated  by 
his  son  and  successor,  Titus,  with  games  and  shows  lasting 
one  hundred  days,  in  A.D.  80 :  the  decoration  of  the  upper 
portion  was  finished  by  Domitian.  The  amphitheatre  was 
the  largest  ever  built,  and  owed  to  its  enormous  size  the 
name — Colosseum — which  it  has  borne  at  least  since  the 
eighth  century  :  the  proverbial  saying, 

While  stands  the  Colosseum,  Rome  shall  stand  ; 

When  falls  the  Colosseum,  Rome  shall  fall  ; 

And  when  Rome  falls,  with  it  shall  fall  the  world,  ' 

is  found  in  its  Latin  form  in  the  writings  of  the  Venerable 
Bede. 

The  Colosseum  was  struck  by  lightning  and  the  upper 
galleries  consumed  by  fire  in  A.D.  217,  and  it  has  suffered 
damage  from  earthquake  at  various  times,  especially  in  the 
fifth,  thirteenth,  and  fourteenth  centuries ;  probably  the 
collapse  of  the  western  arcades  was  due  to  this  cause. 
From  the  fifteenth  to  the  seventeenth  centuries,  moreover 
it  served  as  a  quarry  for  building  materials,  when  a  New 


244  THE  C JULIAN  AND  AVENTINE         [xi. 

Rome  arose  after  the  return  of  the  Popes  from  Avignon. 
At  length  (after  the  building  had  been  used  as  a  manufactory 
for  saltpetre)  Benedict  XIV  consecrated  it  to  the  memory 
of  the  martyrs  who  had  perished  in  the  arena  under  the 
Empire,  and  the  stations  of  the  Cross  which  he  had  set  up 
were  only  removed  in  1874. 

The  amphitheatre  was  a  type  of  building  unknown  to 
the  Greeks,  whose  refined  instinct  shrank  from  the  in- 
humanity of  gladiatorial  combats.  These  shows  were 
popular  among  the  Etruscans,  and  especially  amongst  the 
Oscans  of  Campania,  from  whom  they  were  borrowed  by 
the  Romans  ;  and  the  first  permanent  buildings  erected  for 
their  celebration  were  found  in  Campania.  That  of  Pompeii 
is  the  earliest  in  date  with  which  we  are  acquainted,  and 
the  lower  parts  of  it  are  excavated  in  the  ground,  so  that 
the  seats  rest  on  a  mound  of  earth  and  the  external  eleva- 
tion is  low.  The  Colosseum,  on  the  other  hand,  represents 
the  triumph  of  Roman  architecture  in  basing  an  elliptical 
structure  on  an  ingeniously  contrived  system  of  vaults. 
Externally,  we  have  a  facade  in  four  stories.  In  the  three 
lowest  of  these  we  have  the  finest  extant  example  of  the 
characteristically  Roman  scheme  of  the  Three  Orders 
adorning  the  piers  of  a  system  of  arcades  :  the  fourth  storey 
consists  of  a  wall  adorned  with  flat  Corinthian  pilasters  and 
an  entablature,  and  containing  a  row  of  windows,  above 
which  are  brackets.  In  these  were  fixed  masts  carrying 
awnings  for  the  protection  of  the  spectators.  The  openings 
in  the  lowest  arcade,  eighty  in  number,  served  as  entrances : 
the  four  at  the  extremities  of  the  two  axes  are  unnumbered, 
the  rest  bear  the  numbers  I  to  LXXVI.  Of  the  main 
entrances,  those  to  the  N.  and  S.  were  reserved  for  the 
State  processions  of  the  Emperor  and  high  officials.  They 
were  richly  decorated  in  stucco  (once  gilded  and  painted) 
and  some  traces  of  this  are  still  to  be  seen  on  the  N.  side  ; 
at  the  E.  and  W.  extremities  were  the  doors  by  which  the 
gladiators  marched  into  the  arena  in  solemn  procession. 
Observe  on  the  N.  side  a  series  of  travertine  posts  corre- 
sponding with  the  piers  of  the  arcades  and  the  centres  of  the 


XL]  THE   C^LIAN  AND  AVENTINE  245 

archways.  They  have  holes  for  bronze  rings  on  the  side 
nearest  the  Colosseum,  and  thus  (by  means  of  chains)  the 
crowd  was  shepherded  into  a  number  of  narrow  lanes  to 
which  admission  was  given  by  tickets  corresponding  with 
the  number  of  each  archway. 

We  enter  the  building  by  the  second  arch  to  the  L.  of 
the  main  W.  entrance,  and  ascend  to  the  first  story,  from 
which  we  overlook  the  arena,  measuring  94  yards  by  59. 
Every  trace  of  the  marble  seats  has  long  since  disappeared 
and  it  is  no  longer  easy  to  determine  their  number  or 
arrangement,  especially  in  the  upper  part  of  the  building. 

Next  to  the  arena  was  the  podium^  a  platform  about 
12  feet  high,  upon  which  were  set  three  rows  of  marble 
thrones  reserved  for  the  Imperial  family,  high  officials  of 
state  and  corporations.  Many  inscriptions  have  been  found 
relating  to  the  distribution  of  seats,  both  on  the  podium 
and  in  the  upper  tiers  (they  may  be  seen  in  three  rooms  on 
the  first  story  at  the  N.  end  of  the  shorter  axis)  ;  we  gather 
that  for  the  first  three  centuries  places  were  assigned  to 
classes  of  persons  (such  as  ex-consuls)  or  to  priestly  colleges 
(such  as  the  Arval  brotherhood)  ;  in  the  fourth  century  seats 
were  permanently  allotted  to  families  or  individuals.  The 
measurements  are  given  in  feet^  and  this  may  explain  the 
statement  of  ancient  authorities  that  the  amphitheatre  con- 
tained 87,000  "  places,"  which  would  be  a  gross  exaggera- 
tion if  it  applied  to  the  number  of  spectators.  This  can 
never  have  exceeded  50,000.  Some  of  the  marble  chairs — 
imitated  from  those  used  in  Greek  theatres,  such  as  that 
of  Dionysus  at  Athens — are  now  used  as  thrones  in  Roman 
churches,  e.g.  S.  Gregorio.  The  line  of  the  podium  was 
broken  by  the  two  balconies  or  boxes  reserved  for  the 
Emperor  and  the  magistrate  presiding  at  the  games  ;  and  it 
was  approachedby  eight  staircases  from  a  passage  lined  with 
marble.  This  passage  and  the  beginning  ofoneof  the  stair- 
cases may  be  seen  on  the  S.  side.  In  order  to  prevent  the 
wild  beasts  exhibited  in  the  arena  from  scaling  the  podium 
a  passage  was  left  all  round  the  arena,  separated  from  it 
by  a  low  wall  carrying  a  bronze  screen  with  a  revolving 


246  THE  C/ELIAN  AND  AVENTINE  [xi. 

toprail.  A  number  of  recesses  in  the  front  wall  of  the 
podium^  opening  on  to  the  passage,  were  doubtless  occupied 
by  guards. 

Above  the  podium  were  the  sloping  tiers  of  seats  which 
formed  the  cavea.  The  horizontal  divisions — separated  by 
gangways — were  called  mceniajta,  a  word  derived  from  the 
old  galleries  in  the  Forum,  as  to  which  see  p.  44  ;  and  these 
were  again  divided  into  wedge-shaped  sections  {cunei) 
divided  by  staircases  into  which  the  vomitoria,  or  entrances 
from  the  outer  corridors,  opened.  Thus  each  seat  could  be  de- 
signated by  the  number  of  its  cuneus^  tier  and  place  in  the  row. 
It  will  be  seen  that  at  about  two- thirds  of  the  height  of 
the  building  there  is  a  high  wall  with  doors  and  windows. 
This  divided  the  second  manianum  from  the  third,  which, 
we  are  told,  rested  on  a  wooden  scaffolding  {in  ligneis). 
This  has  of  course  entirely  disappeared,  and  thus  we  are 
reduced  to  conjecture  as  to  the  arrangement  of  the  upper- 
most tiers  ;  but  it  seems  fairly  certain  that  a  portico  of 
Corinthian  columns — several  of  whose  capitals  have  been 
found — ran  round  the  whole  building  just  above  this  wall, 
and  supported  a  roof  which  protected  the  third  manianum^ 
reserved  for  women.  On  this  roof  there  was  standing  room 
for  some  thousands  of  humbler  spectators,  called  pullati, 
because  they  were  not  clad  in  the  full-dress  white  toga,  but 
in  garments  of  darker  material.  Even  above  this  there  was 
a  narrow  ledge  or  gallery  carried  on  arches  projecting  from 
travertme  brackets  ;  upon  this  were  stationed  the  sailors  of 
the  fleet  who  manipulated  the  awnings  {velaria).  It  seems 
incredible  that  these  awnings  could  have  spanned'  so 
enormous  an  area  as  that  covered  by  the  Colosseum,  which 
is  nearly  one-third  of  a  mile  in  circumference  ;  moreover,  the 
whole  of  the  seats  would  never  require  shade  at  once,  and 
it  can  therefore  hardly  be  doubted  that  the  cunei  had 
separate  awnings  which  were  drawn  as  required. 

Every  traveller  should  ascend  to  the  vaulted  gallery  in 
the  fourth  story,  built  in  1852,  close  to  the  N.  wall,  from 
which  there  is  a  magnificent  view  to  the  S.  We  can  also 
examine  the  construction  of  the  uppermost  part  of  the  outer 


XI.]  THE  C^LIAN  AND  AVENTINE  247 

wall,  which  shows  evident  marks  of  haste  (drums  of 
columns,  architectural  fragments,  etc.,  are  built  into  it). 
It  was  no  doubt  largely  restored  after  the  fire  of  A.D.  217  ; 
it  has  indeed  been  thought  that  up  to  this  time  the  super- 
structure was  entirely  of  wood. 

The  staircases  by  which  the  ascent  is  made  are  almost 
entirely  modern,  and  do  not  help  us  to  picture  the  extremely 
ingenious  arrangement  by  which,  with  the  least  possible 
expenditure  of  space,  access  was  given  to  each  tier  of  seats. 
We  can,  however,  observe  the  economy  of  the  Roman 
architects  in  their  use  of  materials.  The  fabric  of  the 
Colosseum  is  built  up  on  a  skeleton  consisting  in  the 
main  of  {a)  three  concentric  elliptical  walls  pierced  with 
arcades  and  enclosing  vaulted  corridors  which  run  round 
the  building,  and  {b)  a  system  of  radiating  walls  corres- 
ponding with  the  piers  of  the  outer  arcades,  which  carry  the 
lower  tiers  of  seats,  and  are  pierced  with  openings  forming 
inner  corridors.  In  the  interspaces  between  these  radiating 
walls,  roofed  with  sloping  vaults,  are  disposed  staircases 
leading  to  the  corridors  on  the  upper  levels.  If  we  examine 
the  radiating  walls  we  shall  see  that  in  the  outer  part,  where 
the  height  and  therefore  the  pressure  is  greatest,  they  are 
built  of  tufa,  reinforced  by  piers  or  strips  of  travertine  at 
intervals,  but  in  the  inner  portion,  where  they  are  quite  low 
and  have  no  great  weight  to  carry,  as  also  in  the  uppermost 
parts,  they  are  of  concrete  faced  with  brick.  Moreover,  the 
concrete  varies  in  its  composition  according  to  the  weight 
which  it  has  to  carry.  In  the  foundations  the  filling  consists 
of  lumps  of  lava  ;  in  the  inner  and  lower  parts  of  the 
radiating  walls  it  is  of  broken  tufa  and  brick  ;  in  the  vaults 
it  is  generally  of  pumice.  The  outer  arcades  are  entirely 
built  of  travertine  in  large  blocks,  laid  without  mortar,  but 
joined  together  with  iron  clamps  :  the  unsightly  holes  with 
which  the  exterior  of  the  building  is  disfigured  were  made 
in  the  Middle  Ages  in  order  to  extract  the  clamps. 

The  arena  rests  on  substructures  of  which  a  great  part 
have  now  been  excavated,  so  that  we  can  form  a  good  idea 
of  their  plan  ^nd   the   purpose   which   they  served.     It   i& 


248  THE   C^LIAN  AND  AVENTINE  [xi. 

difficult,  however,  to  distinguish  those  parts  which  belong 
to  the  original  building  from  the  restorations  of  the  Later 
Empire.  These,  however,  did  not  alter  the  original  plan, 
which  consisted  in  a  series  of  elliptical  walls  forming 
corridors  and  enclosing  an  oval  space  divided  into  narrow 
passages  by  walls  parallel  with  the  major  axis  of  the  arena. 
The  passages  were  roofed  alternately  with  vaults  and 
wooden  floors ;  in  these  there  were  trap-doors  through 
which,  by  means  of  lifts  worked  by  windlasses,  cages  con- 
taining wild  beasts,  or  platforms  upon  which  scenery,  actors, 
etc.  stood,  could  be  raised.  The  grooved  frames  of 
travertine  in  which  the  lifts  ran  are  easily  distingu\shed 
All  round  the  outermost  oval  corridor  are  recesses  which 
seem  to  have  served  as  dens  for  wild  beasts  :  they  have 
small  windows  opening  into  a  passage  (unexcavated)  at  the 
back  by  which  the  beasts  were  fed.  Between  each  pair  are 
the  corbels  in  which  the  lower  masts  of  the  awnings  were 
fixed. 

The  floor  of  the  substructures  is  higher  in  the  centre  of 
the  building  than  at  the  sides,  where  it  is  as  much  as  twenty 
feet  lower  than  the  arena  ;  this  was  in  order  to  drain  the 
surface  water  from  the  central  corridors.^  A  wooden  floor 
was  discovered  in  1874  in  the  central  passage;  but  the 
original  pavement  seems  to  have  been  of  opus  spicatum 
(bricks  laid  in  a  herring-bone  pattern). 

There  were  four  subterranean  passages  leading  out  of 
the  building  at  the  ends  of  the  four  axes.  That  to 
the  E.  is  the  one  by  which  access  is  given  to  the  sub- 
structures ;  it  probably  led  to  the  Ludus  magnus^  or 
gladiators'  training  school,  which  was  on  the  slope  of  the 
Esquiline.  On  the  side  towards  the  Caelian  is  another, 
which    has    been    supposed    to    be    that    constructed  by 

^  An  elaborate  system  of  drains  exists  beneath  the  substructures. 
The  Colosseum  was  not  used  for  sea-fights,  for  which  a  special 
building  {naumachia)  was  reserved,  so  that  it  is  a  mistake  to 
suppose  that  the  subterranean  corridors  were  used  for  flooding 
the  arena.  We  hear,  it  is  true,  of  a  sea-fight  at  the  inaugtiraiion 
of  jthp  CpiJQSseJiun  :  but  the  building  vva§  not  at  that  time  complete. 


XL]  THE  emu  AN  AND  AVENTINE  249 

Commodus  for  his  private  use  when  he  exchanged  the 
Palatine  for  a  residence  on  the  Caehan  called  the  Domns 
Vectiliana. 

We  hear  of  a  number  of  buildings  connected  with  the 
shows  of  the  Amphitheatre.  Beside  the  training  schools  {ludi) 
for  gladiators  there  were  the  Arjnamentarium^  or  armoury, 
the  Sanitarium^  or  workshop  where  arms  were  repaired, 
the  Summum  Choragium^  a  storehouse  for  stage  properties, 
and  the  Spoliarium^  to  which  the  bodies  of  dead  gladiators 
were  removed.  These  must  all  have  been  near  the  Colos- 
seum, but  we  cannot  identify  their  position. 

A  little  to  the  W.  of  the  Colosseum  is  a  conical  brick  struc- 
ture which  was  once  crowned  by  a  fountain — the  Meta  Sudans 
set  up  by  Domitian  at  the  point  where  five  of  the  "  Regions  " 
of  Augustus  met. 

From  this  point  the  Sacred  Way  rises  to  the  Arch  of  Titus  : 
but  the  Forum  excavations  cannot  be  entered  from  this  side. 
To  the  R.  rises  the  platform  (with  vaulted  substructures) 
upon  which  the  Temple  of  Venus  and  Rome  (p.  79)  is  built  ; 
to  the  L.  are  remains  of  private  houses  (partly  converted 
into  what  seems  to  be  a  Christian  church)  under  the  slope 
of  the  Palatine. 

Between  the  Cselian  and  the  Palatine  ran  the  Via 
Triuinphalis^  along  which  the  Triumphal  processions 
passed,  and  at  the  angle  where  it  joined  the  Sacred  Way 
was  erected  the  Arch  of  Constantine  in  celebration  of 
his  victory  over  Maxentius  at  Saxa  Rubra,  near  the  Milvian 
Bridge,  in  A.D.  312.  This  battle  sealed  the  fate  of  Paganism  ; 
for  Constantine,  inspired  by  the  Vision  of  the  Cross,  fought 
as  the  champion  of  his  newly-embraced  faith,  and  staked 
his  all  upon  the  issue.  Nevertheless,  the  Senate  clung  to 
the  old  religion,  and  could  not  bring  itself  to  do  more  than 
record  (in  the  lengthy  inscription  upon  the  Attic)  that  the 
vengeance  exacted  by  Constantine  from  the  "tyrant"  (i.e. 
Maxentius)  was  "  inspired  by  heaven  "  {instinctu  divinitatis). 

The  main  interest  of  this  arch  lies  in  its  sculptured 
decoration.  The  age  of  Constantine  could  produce  nothing 
worthy  to  be  compared  with  the  reliefs  of  the  Arch  of  Titus, 


250  THE  CMLIAN  AND  AVENTINE  [xi. 

only  a  few  yards  distant ;  and  earlier  buildings  were  there- 
fore plundered  in  order  to  make  good  the  deficiency.  First 
and  foremost  we  notice  the  splendid  reliefs  on  either  side  of 
the  main  passage,  belonging  to  the  Great  Frieze  which 
adorned  Trajan's  Forum.  We  have  already  met  with  other 
fragments  of  this  work  in  the  Villa  Borghese  (p.  191)  and 
Villa  Medici  (p.  190)  ;  but  those  which  we  here  see  are  much 
the  finest.  The  melee  in  which  the  Emperor  and  his 
cavalry  are  charging  with  resistless  force  into  the  surging 
mass  of  Dacians  is  unsurpassed  in  its  tumultuous  vigour  ;  on 
the  opposite  slab  we  find  a  striking  contrast  between  the 
cavalry  charge  and  the  scene  in  which  the  Emperor, 
crowned  by  Victory  and  escorted  by  Valour  ( Virtus)^ 
marches  in  front  of  his  assembled  troops.  The  same  con- 
trast is  again  to  be  observed  on  one  of  the  slabs  which 
adorn  the  narrow  ends  of  the  Attic— that  on  the  W.  side, 
where  a  group  of  Roman  soldiers  and  Dacian  captives 
interrupts  the  advance  of  the  cavalry.  Notice  that  the 
horror  vacui  of  the  Roman  artist  leads  him  to  suppress 
the  background,  and  to  fill  up  the  space,  where  necessary, 
with  tiers  of  heads  (as  on  the  column  of  Trajan).  In  this 
faulty  perspective  we  see  the  beginnings  of  a  process  which 
we  have  traced  throughout  the  monumental  sculpture  of  the 
second  century. 

Next  we  may  observe  the  beautiful  circular  medallions, 
of  which  there  are  two  above  each  of  the  side-bays.  Let 
us  take  the  N.  facade  first.  Here  we  see,  first,  an  Emperor 
hunting  the  wild  boar,  accompanied  by  two  riders,  then  a 
sacrifice  offered  before  a  statue  of  Apollo  standing  on  a  high 
pedestal  between  bay-trees ;  next,  the  Emperor  with  a 
companion,  an  attendant  (bearded)  and  two  grooms  leading 
horses,  standing  over  the  body  of  a  slaughtered  lion ; 
finally  a  sacrifice  offered  to  Heracles,  whose  statue  (seated) 
is  seen  in  the  upper  part  of  the  medallion.  In  no  case  does 
the  head  of  the  Emperor  belong  to  the  original  relief :  but 
while  in  the  first  and  third  scenes  Constantine  is  repre- 
sented by  a  new  head,  in  the  second  and  fourth  quite  a 
different  portrait  has  been  produced  by  working  over  the 


XL]  THE   CMLIAN  AND  AVENTINE  251 

original  head.  This  is  probably  Claudius  Qothicus  (Em- 
peror A.D.  268-70),  from  whom  Constantine  claimed  descent. 

The  medallions  on  the  S.  side  represent,  firstly,  the 
Emperor  and  his  friends  going  out  to  hunt ;  next,  a  sacri- 
fice to  Silvanus ;  then,  a  bear-hunt ;  lastly,  a  sacrifice  to 
Artemis.  Here  the  heads  of  the  Emperor  are  unfortunately 
lost,  except  in  the  last  instance,  where  the  face  has  been 
so  much  damaged  that  we  can  only  see  that  the  Emperor 
was  beardless.  Thus  we  are  forced  to  date  the  reliefs  by 
their  style  and  workmanship  :  and  this  is  so  excellent  that 
we  are  constrained  to  put  them  in  the  Flavian  period. 
Constantine,  it  will  be  remembered,  bore  the  name  Flavins  ; 
and  he  may  have  taken  these  reliefs  from  the  Temple  of  the 
Flavian  house  built  by  Domitian  on  the  Quirinal  (p.  197). 
It  has  been  thought  that  the  medallions  of  the  S.  side  are 
finer  in  execution  and  earlier  in  date  than  those  on  the  N. 
But  we  cannot  separate  the  two  series  :  for  just  as  the  bear's 
head  is  fixed  on  the  tree  beside  the  altar  of  Artemis,  so  the 
spoils  of  the  boar  hang  above  the  figure  of  Silvanus  :  and 
the  companions  of  the  Emperor  on  the  medallions  of  the 
N.  fagade  have  the  true  Flavian  physiognomy. 

Now  look  at  the  eight  oblong  panels  on  the  Attic.  In 
every  case  the  Emperor  has  the  features  of  Constantine  ; 
but  the  heads  are  modern,  probably  not  older  than  1733, 
when  the  arch  was  restored  by  order  of  Clement  XII. 
Originally  Marcus  Aurelius  was  represented,  as  can  be  seen 
when  we  compare  these  reliefs  with  three  others  belonging 
to  the  same  set  on  the  staircase  of  the  Palazzo  dei  Con- 
servatori  (p.  133).  Unfortunately  their  original  arrangement 
has  been  disturbed  and  is  difficult  to  restore  :  but  there 
seems  little  doubt  that  they  fell  into  two  groups,  correspond- 
ing with  the  "German"  and  "Sarmatian"  wars  which,  as 
we  saw,  were  distinguished  in  the  reliefs  of  the  column  of 
Marcus  Aurelius  (p.  183).  The  two  panels  which  we  see  to 
the  R.  if  we  look  at  the  S.  face  of  the  arch,  representing 
a  harangue  delivered  by  the  Emperor  and  the  sacrifice  of 
the  Suoveiaurilia  (notice  the  crowding  of  the  figures,  and 
the  small  scale  of  the  animals)  are  conventional  in  subject 


252  THE   CMLIAN  AND  AVENTINE  [xi. 

and  treatment — we  have  met  with  such  scenes  repeatedly  on 
the  columns  of  Trajan  and  M.  Aurelius) ;  they  might 
belong  to  either  series.  To  the  L.  of  the  inscription,  however, 
we  recognise  captive  Sarmatians  brought  before  the  Emperor ; 
and  next  to  it  is  a  scene  identified  as  the  harangue  delivered 
by  Marcus  to  the  praetorian  guards  in  their  camp  in  Rome 
during  a  brief  visit  which  he  paid  to  the  capital  in  January, 
A.D.  174,  at  the  close  of  the "  Germanic "  war.  Passing 
through  the  arch  and  looking  at  the  panels  on  the  N.  face, 
we  notice  to  L.  two  reliefs  which  depict  the  arrival  of  the 
Emperor  in  Rome.  In  the  first  he  is  crowned  by  Victory 
and  accompanied  by  Mars  and  Virtus  (or  Roma);  in  the 
second  his  guards  are  beside  him,  an  ideal  figure  of  the 
Senate  behind  him,  and  a  reclining  figure  with  its  R.  arm 
resting  on  a  wheel  in  front  of  him  ;  this  last  personifies  the 
Flaminian  Way.  These  scenes  refer  to  the  arrival  of 
Marcus  in  Rome  at  the  beginning  of  A.D  174,  and  balance 
the  final  triumph  depicted  on  two  of  the  reliefs  in  the  Palazzo 
dei  Conservatori  (p.  133).  The  two  panels  to  the  R.  represent 
the  submission  of  a  German  chief  and  his  son,  and  the 
congiariuin^  or  largess,  distributed  to  the  people  of  Rome 
after  the  triumph  of  A.D.  176.  Notice  the  figure  of  an 
elderly  man  who  stands  behind  the  Emperor  in  several 
scenes.  It  is  a  portrait  of  his  praetorian  prefect,  Bassaeus 
Rufus,  a  man  of  low  origin  and  rough  manners. 

Lastly,  we  come  to  the  reliefs  which  may  be  ascribed  to 
the  artists  of  Constantine's  own  time.  On  the  pedestals  of 
the  free-standing  columns  are  figures  of  standard-bearers, 
prisoners.  Victories,  etc.  ;  on  the  E.  and  W.  ends  of  the  arch 
are  medallions  representing  the  chariots  of  Sun  and  Moon  ; 
and  there  is  a  narrow  band  of  relief  over  the  side  bays, 
which  is  continued  round  the  sides  of  the  arch.  These  friezes 
are  usually  supposed  to  depict  scenes  from  the  history  of 
Constantine  himself;  but  it  is  probable  that  some  of  them 
were  borrowed  from  a  monument  of  Diocletian,  who  cele- 
brated a  triumph  in  honour  of  the  victories  of  his  colleague 
Galerius  over  the  Persians  in  A.D.  303.  There  exists  at 
Salonica  a  triumphal   arch  set  up  by  Diocletian  in  com- 


XI.]  THE   CMLIAN  AND  AVENTINE  253 

memoration  of  the  successes,  and  we  saw  that  an  arch  of 
the  same  Emperor  once  stood  in  the  Corso(p.  181).  Moreover, 
a  close  examination  of  the  reHefs  has  shown  that  in  three 
cases  the  original  head  of  the  Emperor  has  been  removed, 
and  a  fresh  one  (so  insecurely  fixed  that  it  has  been  lost)  substi- 
tuted. We  shall  therefore  probably  be  right  in  attributing 
to  Constantine  only  the  two  strips  of  relief  on  the  S.  side, 
which  represent  the  battle  of  the  Milvian  bridge  and 
the  siege  of  a  city,  most  likely  Verona  ;  while  the  triumph 
depicted  on  the  narrow  ends  of  the  arch  will  be  that  of  Dio- 
cletian. The  Oriental  head-dress  of  the  captives  and  the 
presence  of  a  camel  (on  the  W.  side)  show  that  the  victory 
had  been  won  on  the  E.  frontier  ;  and  this  is  fatal  to  the 
view  that  Constantine  himself  was  the  victorious  Emperor. 
The  two  reliefs  on  the  N.  face  represent  (r.)  the  congiarium 
distributed  after  the  triumph,  and  (L.)  the  Emperor  making 
a  proclamation  from  the  Rostra.  The  ship's  beaks  are 
omitted  for  the  sake  of  brevity,  but  we  see  the  honorary 
columns  bearing  statues  which  stood  on  the  platform  and 
made  it  necessary  to  support  the  added  weight  by  fresh  piers 
and  arches,  as  we  saw  (p.  57).  To  the  R.  of  the  Rostra  is 
seen  the  Arch  of  Septimius  Severus,  to  the  L.  the  Arch  of 
Tiberius  and  the  Basilica  Julia.  These  two  friezes,  with  their 
strict  symmetry  and  clearly-marked  lines,  accord  better  with 
the  monumental  character  of  this  late  art  than  the  confused 
compositions  of  the  other  side. 

Finally,  notice  the  figures  of  Dacian  captives  in  pavon- 
azzetto  which  crown  the  eight  columns  flanking  the  bays. 
The  columns  are  monoliths  of  giallo  antico^  save  one,  which 
is  of  white  marble,  and  was  set  up  when  the  original  column 
was  removed  to  the  Lateran.  The  Dacians  (heads  restored) 
were  no  doubt  brought  from  Trajan's  Forum  :  one  of  the 
figures  is  modern,  but  we  have  seen  the  ancient  torso  in  the 
Capitoline  Museum  (p.  106). 

Following  the  Via  di  S.  Gregorio  we  soon  come  (on  the  L.)» 
to  the  entrance  of  the  Antiquarium,  a  museum  formed  by 
the  municipality  of  Rome  for  the  housing  of  sculptures,  etc., 
recently   discovered.     The   garden   contains   a   number  of 


254  THE   CmLIAN  AND  AVENTINE  [xi. 

fragments  of  minor  importance  :  notice  the  slabs  decorated 
with  racing  chariots  from  the  tomb  of  an  auriga. 

Entering  the  museum,  we  see  in  the  first  room  a  collec- 
tion of  objects  illustrating  the  technical  processes  used  by 
the  ancients  on  the  shelves  to  the  R.  (notice  the  pigments, 
together  with  the  implements  for  grinding  them).  By  the 
wall  opposite  the  entrance  are  placed,  to  R.,  slabs  of  coloured 
marble  and  other  precious  materials  used  for  wall-decora- 
tions, which  are  furnished  with  labels  ;  to  L.  a  collection  of 
brick-stamps,  the  inscriptions  of  which  are  often  dated,  and 
therefore  of  great  value  in  determining  the  period  to  which 
buildings  belong.  By  the  L.  wall  are  lead  pipes,  stamped 
with  the  names  of  those  whose  houses  they  supplied  with 
water ;  these,  again,  are  of  great  topographical  interest. 
The  distribution  of  the  water  supply  was  carefully  regulated 
under  the  Empire,  grants  to  private  persons  being  strictly 
limited  in  quantity  and  checked. 

In  the  second  room  on  the  R.  is  a  bull  belonging  to  a 
Mithraic  group,  like  that  described  on  p.  234,  a  fine  torso 
in  black  marble,  and  some  fragments  of  the  frieze  of  gods 
and  giants  of  which  other  portions  are  in  the  Lateran 
(p.  240)  and  Vatican  (p.  305).  The  cases  on  the  L.  contain 
fragmentary  sculptures,  amongst  them  (top  shelf)  part  of  a 
well-executed  landscape-relief  with  a  temple  precinct,  tree, 
etc. 

From  this  room  a  door  in  the  L.  wall  leads  into  a  side- 
hall.  Here  we  see,  to  the  L.,  a  statue  in  green  basalt 
(chosen  because  of  its  resemblance  to  bronze)  which  repre- 
sents a  woman  praying  with  uplifted  arms.  The  type  is 
very  like  that  of  a  statue  in  the  Vatican  (p.  295),  but  our 
statue  seems  to  be  a  more  faithful  reproduction  of  the 
original  creation,  which  dates  from  the  end  of  the  fifth  cen- 
tury B.C.  Such  types  were  constantly  used  for  portraits  in 
Roman  types. 

;  By  the  wall  opposite  the  entrance  notice  a  female  head 
with  a  curious  covering  made  of  birds'  feathers  ;  it  is  that 
of  an  Egyptian  princess  of  the  Ptolemaic  dynasty,  and  the 
delicate  rendering  of  the  flesh  is  characteristic  of  Alex- 


xi.J  THE  CMLIAN  AND  AVENTINE  255 

andrian  art.  Further  to  the  R.  is  a  portrait-head  of  an 
Athenian  general  in  the  style  of  Cresilas  (cf  p.  281).  Three 
statues  by  this  wall  should  also  be  noted  :  an  athlete  torso 
which  belonged  to  a  copy  of  the  Diadumenos  of  Polyclitus 
(cf  p.  186) ;  a  draped  female  figure  of  "  severe"  fifth-century 
style,  which  should  be  restored  with  a  sceptre  in  the  left 
hand,  and  reproduces  the  type  of  a  famous  statue  known  as 
the  "  Hestia  Giustiniani,"  now  in  the  Torlonia  collection, 
which  is  not  accessible  to  travellers  ;  lastly,  the  torso  of  a 
warrior  in  violent  motion,  also  of  the  later  archaic  period, 
and  recalling  by  its  strained  pose  and  tense  muscles  the 
Marsyas  of  Myron  (p.  235). 

By  the  end  wall  to  R.  are  two  interesting  heads — one  of 
Perseus,  with  the  winged  helmet  of  Hades  which  made  its 
wearer  invisible,  which  has  been  attributed  to  the  school  of 
Myron,  the  other  of  Diomed — identified  by  means  of  a 
complete  statue  in  Munich,  which  shows  the  hero  in  the  act 
of  carrying  off  the  Palladium — which  has  been  thought  to 
be  a  work  of  Cresilas. 

On  the  shelf  by  the  wall  to  R.  of  entrance  (between  two 
fountain  figures)  notice  the  figure  of  a  boy  clad  in  an  ungirt 
tunic,  who  was  evidently  carrying  some  heavy  object  in  his 
arms.  What  this  was  is  shown  by  a  complete  replica  (but 
a  much  poorer  copy)  in  the  Palazzo  dei  Conservatory  It 
was  a  pig  ;  and  both  this  detail  and  the  presence  of  a  myrtle 
branch  and  torch-like  staff  bound  with  myrtle  on  the  tree- 
stump  show  that  the  statue  represents  the  so-called  "  Boy 
from  the  Hearth,"  who  played  a  part  in  the  celebration  of 
the  Eleusinian  mysteries.  The  original  was  a  work  of  the 
same  period  and  school  as  the  type  of  Apollo  discussed  on 
p.  122,  and  attributed  by  some  authorities  to  the  Attic  artist 
Calamis.  Very  different  from  it  is  the  curious  draped  figure 
next  to  R.,  which  represents  Priapus,  the  god  of  gardens  and 
fertility.    Finally,  we  have  a  figure  of  Hermes  carrying  a  ram. 

The  colossal  statue  of  Athena  in  the  centre  of  the  room 
is  a  replica  of  the  Pallas  of  Velletri  in  the  Louvre,  derived 
from  a  fine  Attic  original  of  the  fifth  century,  perhaps  by 
Cresilas. 


2S6  THE   CMLIAN  AND  AVENTINE  [xi. 

Returning  to  the  second  room,  we  pass  thence  into  the 
third,  which  contains  objects  found  in  the  cemeteries  of  the 
Esquiline.  To  the  R.  are  some  interesting  sculptures  in 
peperino^  which  belonged  to  a  monument  set  up  (as  an  in- 
scription shows)  by  the  corporation  of  flute-players  {tibicines) 
who  performed  at  public  sacrifices.  The  inscription  dates 
from  about  the  beginning  of  the  first  century  B.C.,  and  the 
monument,  with  the  rudely  executed  statues  of  flule-players 
(fragments  by  the  R.  wall)  may  belong  to  that  time.  The 
group  of  Orpheus  charming  the  beasts,  also  in  peperino, 
almost  certainly  belonged  to  this  monument — the  subject 
was  a  natural  one  for  musicians  to  choose. 

In  the  fourth  room  (which  contains  a  number  of  terra- 
cottas in  cases)  notice  two  female  heads  in  peperino^  copied 
from  Hellenistic  originals,  standing  on  altars  of  the  shape 
of  that  erected  to  the  "  Unknown  God "  on  the  Palatine. 
One  of  them  was  dedicated  to  Verminus,  the  god  of  worms 
in  cattle,  on  the  occasion  of  a  murrain. 

In  the  fifth  room  are  a  number  of  heads  of  different 
periods  on  the  shelves  to  the  R.  The  Imperial  portraits 
will  easily  be  recognised.  On  the  lowest  shelf  is  a  head  of 
Apollo  belonging  to  the  fourth  century  type  represented  in 
the  room  of  the  Dying  Gaul  (p.  124).  On  the  L.  notice  a 
statue  of  a  Muse  in  the  attitude  of  the  Vatican  Melpomene  ; 
a  spirited  group  of  Satyr  and  nymph  ;  a  fine  architectural 
frieze,  less  overladen  with  ornament  than  those  from  Trajan's 
Forum  in  the  Lateran  ;  and  a  relief  representing  gladiators 
with  names  inscribed  thereon. 

In  the  last  room  are  a  number  of  fragments  belonging  to 
a  large  mosaic  of  late  date  with  hunting  scenes,  and  a 
charming  group  of  two  girls,  one  of  whom  has  mounted  on 
the  back  of  the  other,  found  in  one  of  the  parks  on  the 
Esquiline. 

The  Via  di  S.  Gregorio  leads  us  to  the  S.  angle  of  the 
Palatine,  where'  the  Septizodium  of  Septimius  Severus 
(p.  98)  once  stood  :  notice  in  passing  the  arches  of  the 
aqueduct  (an  extension  of  the  branch  of  the  Aqua  Claudia 


XI.]  THE   CMLIAN  AND  AVENTINE  257 

built  by  Nero)  which  supplied  the  Palatine  with  water  :  it 
seems  to  have  been  built  by  Domitian. 

From  the  point  which  we  have  now  reached  the  Via  dei- 
Cerchi  diverges  to  the  R.,  and  traverses  the  valley  between 
the  Palatine  and  Aventine  in  which  the  Circus  Maximus 
stood  :  some  remains  of  the  brick  arches  on  which  its  tiers 
of  seats  rested,  showing  the  curved  outline  of  the  S.E.  end, 
are  visible  at  the  beginning  of  the  street.  Races  took  place 
in  this  valley  (called  the  Vallis  Murcia)^  from  very  early 
times  ;  but  it  was  only  gradually  that  permanent  structures 
were  set  up,  and  the  magnificent  building  of  Imperial  times 
was,  if  planned  by  Julius  Caesar,  at  least  completed  by 
Augustus.  All  trace  of  its  splendours  has  disappeared  save 
the  obelisks  which  now  stand  in  the  Piazza  del  Popolo, 
and  that  of  the  Lateran — the  former  brought  to  Rome  by 
Augustus,  the  latter  by  Constantius  II,  to  adorn  the  spina^ 
or  long  wall  in  the  centre  of  the  race-course. 

We  turn  to  the  L.  by  the  Via  di  Porta  S.  Sebastiano,  which 
coincides  with  the  ancient  Via  Appia.  The  Porta  Capena, 
by  which  it  issued  from  the  Servian  wall,  was  close  to  our 
starting-point.  We  soon  reach  (on  the  R.)  the  vast  ruins 
of  the  Baths  of  Caracalla,  the  most  perfect  example  of 
the  palaces  of  luxury  and  comfort  which  the  emperors 
erected  for  the  pleasure-loving  Roman  populace.  Though 
not  so  large  as  the  Baths  of  Diocletian  (which  is  said  to 
have  accommodated  3200  bathers,  whereas  those  of  Cara- 
calla furnished  baths  for  only  half  that  number)  they  were 
probably  more  magnificent  in  their  decoration.  Amongst 
the  works  of  art  which  have  been  found  in  their  ruins  are 
the  group  known  as  the  "  Farnese  bull,"  the  so-called  Flora 
and  the  colossal  Heracles  of  Glycon  (this  last  stood  in  the 
central  hall),  all  of  which  passed  with  the  Farnese  collection 
to  Naples  and  are  amongst  the  treasures  of  its  museum. 

The  Baths  of  Caracalla,  begun  in  A.D.  211  and  opened 
five  years  later,  are  built  on  a  high  artificial  platform  about 
360  yards  long  and  340  broad,  partly  raised  on  the  walls  of 
earlier  buildings.  For  example,  in  the  garden  of  Via  di 
Porta  S.  Sebastiano  29,  were  found  the  remains  of  a  second 


258  THE   CMLIAN  AND  AVENTINE  [xi. 

century  house,  with  rooms  painted  in  fresco  and  paved  with 
mosaics  opening  upon  a  peristyle,  of  which  the  upper  story 
was  destroyed  by  Caracalla.  The  facade  of  the  Thermse 
faced  the  Via  Appia,  but  was  at  some  distance  from  the 
road,  and  Caracalla  built  a  "  New  Street "  ( Via  Nova)  lead- 
ing directly  from  the  Circus  Maximus  to  the  main  entrance. 
The  vast  enclosure  has  only  been  partially  excavated,  and 
is  not  as  yet  in  its  entirety  the  property  of  the  Government. 
It  was  laid  out  as  a  park,  in  the  centre  of  which  stood  the 
main  building,  240  yards  long  and  124  yards  broad.  The 
arrangement  of  this  is  typical,  and  was  closely  copied  in 
the  Thermae  of  Diocletian.  In  the  centre  was  a  suite  of 
halls  in  which  the  baths  (cold,  warm,  and  hot)  were  taken  ; 
at  either  side  were  palcestrcc^  or  large  courts  for  gymnastic 
exercises,  and  at  the  four  corners  of  the  building  were 
smaller  rooms  for  various  purposes  of  the  toilet. 

Ancient  writers  speak  of  three  rooms  as  essential  to  a 
suite  of  baths — \h&  frigidarium^  tepidarium,  and  caldarium 
— and  it  has  usually  been  supposed  that  these  names  can 
be  apphed  to  the  three  large  halls  in  the  central  part  of  this 
and  similar  buildings.  There  can,  at  least,  be  no  doubt 
that  the  farthest  from  the  entrance,  facing  to  the  S.W.,  was 
the  hot  bath.  The  case  is  not  so  clear  with  regard  to  the 
other  rooms.  On  entering  the  building  we  turn  sharply  to 
the  L.  and  find  ourselves  in  a  large  rectangular  hall,  which 
contained  a  great  swimming  bath  in  the  centre.  At  either 
end  was  a  vestibule  (the  entrance  is  in  one  of  these).  It 
has  been  much  debated  whether  the  swimming  bath  was 
roofed  over  or  not.  There  is  some  reason  to  identify  this 
hall  with  the  cella  soliaris  described  in  the  ancient  life  of 
Caracalla  as  having  a  flat  ceiling  of  enormous  span,  sup- 
ported by  concealed  girders  ;  for  in  excavating  it  long  iron 
hooks  were  found,  which  may  have  been  used  for  the  sus- 
pension of  a  concrete  ceiling  from  metal  girders.  Behind 
the  swimming-bath  is  the  great  central  hall,  which  was 
vaulted  in  three  bays  like  that  of  the  Thermae  of  Diocletian, 
now  the  Church  of  S.  Maria  degli  Angeli  (p.  198),  or  the 
Basilica   of   Constantine  (p.  78).      Notice  the   remains   of 


XL]  THE  CM  LI  AN  AND  AVENTINE  259 

sculptural  decoration  in  this  hall,  especially  the  figured 
capitals  adorned  with  statues  (Heracles,  Roma,  etc.).^  Hence 
we  pass  on  through  a  much  smaller  oval  room  into  the  last 
of  the  main  suite— the  circular  c^^/rt'c^r/?^;;/,  which  projected 
to  the  S.W.  beyond  the  line  of  the  rectangle.  The  dome 
rested  on  eight  enormous  piers  in  which  were  spiral  stair- 
cases ;  only  two  of  these  still  preserve  anything  like  their 
original  proportions.  The  double  floor  or  hypocaust,  and 
the  flue-tiles  lining  the  walls,  by  means  of  which  the  room 
was  heated,  are  easily  traceable. 

It  is  usual  to  call  the  swimming-bath  'Cd^  frigidariutn^  or 
"  cold  bath,"  and  the  great  hall  the  tepidariu7n^  or  "  warm 
bath  "  ;  but  there  seems  to  have  been  no  artificial  heating  in 
the  latter,  and  we  ought  probably  to  give  the  name  tepi- 
dariuin  to  the  smaller  room  intervening  between  it  and  the 
caldarium.  In  that  case  the  cold  baths  must  have  been 
placed  in  the  four  large  recesses  which  we  see  in  the  side 
bays  of  the  central  hall ;  while  the  great  swimming-bath, 
or  piscina^  was  an  adjunct  not  found  in  the  smaller  suites 
described  by  ancient  authors. 

On  either  side  of  this  central  suite  were  the  great  open 
courts  which  served  for  gymnastic  exercises.  In  the  more 
southerly  of  these  are  some  fragments  of  architectural 
decoration  ;  a  piece  of  the  frieze  (with  animals  and  Cupids) 
which  ran  round  the  peristyle  is  in  its  place.  There  are 
also  remains  of  a  mosaic  with  sea-monsters,  which  belonged 
to  a  room  on  the  upper  floor.  The  large  mosaic  with  athletic 
scenes  in  the  Lateran  (p.  231)  was  found  in  the  N.  peristyle. 
Each  of  these  courts  had  a  large  apse  in  the  outermost 
wall. 

It  is  not  possible  to  determine  the  uses  to  which  each  of 
the  smaller  rooms  in  the  angles  of  the  main  building  were 
put.  In  some  of  them  are  the  remains  of  baths  ;  in  others 
we  can  see  that  there  was  an  upper  storey, 

^  Of  the  eight  monoliths  of  grey  granite  which  carried  the  vault- 
ing one  only  is  now  in  existence :  it  was  removed  to  Florence  in 
the  sixteenth  century  and  stands  in  the  Piazza  S.  Trinita. 


26o  THE  CMLIAN  AND  A  VENTINE  [xi. 

Through  the  caldariiim  described  above  we  pass  into 
the  park.  The  buildings  which  surrounded  this  (Hbraries, 
lecture-rooms,  etc.)  are  only  partly  accessible  :  the  most 
noteworthy  is  a  domed  octagonal  hall  on  the  S.E.  side  (turn 
to  the  L.  on  leaving  the  main  building).  The  architect  had 
almost,  but  not  quite,  mastered  the  secret  of  supporting  a 
cupola  on  "pendentives,"  i.e.  spherical  triangles  at  the 
corners  of  a  rectangular  building,  a  principle  which  had  a 
great  future  before  it,  and  found  its  most  perfect  expression 
in  S.  Sophia  at  Constantinople. 

Immediately  opposite  to  the  caldariuvi  was  a  racecourse 
or  stadium,  with  tiers  of  seats  along  the  enclosure-wall  ; 
and  behind  this  again  have  been  found  the  remains  of  a 
large  reservoir  in  two  storeys,  from  which  water  (brought  by 
a  special  aqueduct,  see  p.  223)  was  supplied  to  the  baths.- 
To  make  room  for  the  buildings  on  this  side  the  Lesser 
Aventine  was  excavated  to  a  depth  of  more  than  100  yards. 

The  baths  of  Caracalla  afford  the  most  perfect  example 
of  Roman  construction  in  brick-faced  concrete,  with  bonding 
courses  of  large  tiles  (two  feet  square)  at  regular  intervals, 
running  through  the  whole  thickness  of  the  walls  ;  and  many 
details,  such  as  the  use  of  iron  and  marble  plugs  to  hold 
the  backing  of  cement  for  stucco  decorations,  and  the  bed- 
ding of  the  mosaics  which  have  fallen  from  the  upper  floors 
in  successive  layers  of  cement,  are  more  easily  studied  here 
than  in  any  other  building. 

Returning  to  the  Via  di  Porta  S.  Sebastiano,  we  soon 
reach  the  point  where  the  Via  Laiina  diverges  to  the  L. 
This  was  one  of  the  most  important,  and  perhaps  the  most 
ancient,  of  the  great  military  highways  upon  which 
Roman  supremacy  in  Italy  depended.  Built  during  the 
wars  which  made  Rome  mistress  of  the  Latin  League,  in 
order  to  give  direct  communication  with  the  important  pass  - 
of  Algidus  in  the  Alban  hills,  it  was  already  continued  as  far 
as  Campania — following  the  valley  of  the  Liris,  like  the 
modern  railway  to  Naples — a  score  of  years  ere  the  Via 
Appia  was  built  (in  312  B.C.)  by  the  blind  censor,  Appius 
Claudius,  who  chose  the  more  difficult  route  through  the 


XL]  THE   CMLIAN  AND  AVENTINE  261 

Pomptine  marshes  to  the  coast  at  Tenacina.  Probably  one 
of  the  three  triumphal  arches  which,  as  we  know,  spanned 
the  Via  Appia  in  this  region  — those  of  Drusus  (see  below), 
Trajan,  and  L.  Verus — was  placed  at  this  fork,  like  the  Porta 
Maggiore  at  the  div^ergence  of  the  Via  Prasnestina  and  Via 
Labicana. 

From  this  point  onwards  the  Via  Appia  became  the 
street  of  tombs  whose  ruins  extend  for  three  or  four 
miles  outside  the  Gate  of  Rome.  The  temples  of  Mars  and 
other  divinities  which  once  existed  in  this  region  are 
destroyed  ;  but  there  are  abundant  remains  of  burial-places, 
of  which  only  those  within  the  later  city  can  be  mentioned 
here. 

To  the  L.  of  the  Via  di  Porta  S.  Sebastiano  (No.  12)  is  the 
Tomb  of  the  5cipios,  mentioned  by  Cicero  amongst  the 
famous  monuments  of  the  Appian  Way  and  discovered  in 
1780.  The  vScipios  maintained  the  custom  of  interring  their 
dead  when  cremation  was  almost  universal,  and  their  burial- 
place  consisted  in  a  series  of  irregular  tunnels  quarried  in  the 
solid  tufa.  The  main  entrance  was  not  from  the  Via  Appia, 
but  from  a  cross-road  to  the  L.  of  it  leading  to  the  Via 
Latina,  where  there  are  remains  of  the  fagade  with  an  arched 
doorway.  The  modern  entrance  is  from  the  W.,  and  there  is 
little  to  be  seen  in  the  dimly-lighted  passages  except  copies 
of  the  inscriptions,  which  are  now  in  the  Belvedere,  together 
with  \he  peperino  sarcophagus  of  Scipio  Barbatus,  the  oldest 
member  of  the  family  buried  in  this  vault.  A  suite  of 
regularly  built  brick  chambers  was  added  in  the  first  century 
B.C.  for  the  use  of  freedmen  of  the  Gens  Cornelia.  The 
excavations  belong  to  the  Municipality  of  Rome,  and  include 
a  much  later  burial-place  close  to  the  Via  Latina,  which  may 
be  visited  at  the  same  time. 

This  is  the  so-called  Columbarium  of  Pomponius  Hylas, 
which  is  a  typical  example  of  the  burial-places  built  under 
the  Early  Empire  when  the  great  cemetery  on  the  Esquiline 
largely  ceased  to  be  used  (being  converted  into  parks)  and 
land  increased  enormously  in  value.  These  are  chambers 
with  rows  of  small  arches,  in  the  floor  of  which  were  sunk 


262  THE  CMLIAN  AND  AVENTINE  [xi. 

the  urns  {oUce)  containing  the  ashes  of  the  dead  :  the  name 
cohnnbariiim  ("dove-cot")  really  applies  to  the  single 
niches,  but  is  popularly  used  of  the  whole  monument.  Some 
of  these  were  built  by  the  subscriptions  of  a  group  of  in- 
dividuals (such  as  the  burial-clubs  or  collegia  funeraticia 
common  in  Ancient  Rome),  or  by  speculators  who  drove  a 
brisk  trade  in  columbaria ;  and  the  monument  which  we  are 
discussing  was  of  this  class.  It  takes  its  name  from  that 
of  a  person  whose  niche  occupied  a  prominent  position,  and 
is  worthy  of  a  visit  on  account  of  its  charming  decorations 
in  painting  and  stucco  :  notice,  for  example,  the  relief  (in 
stucco)  of  Achilles  taught  to  play  the  lyre  by  the  Centaur 
Chiron  (a  subject  familiar  to  ancient  painters)  in  the  pedi- 
ment of  a  shrine  at  the  foot  of  the  entrance- stairs. 

In  the  vineyard  adjoining  these  remains  (Via  di  Porta 
S.  Sebastiano  13)  are  three  other  Columbaria,  larger  but 
more  plainly  decorated  than  that  which  we  have  seen.  One 
of  them  is  shown  by  the  inscription  found  therein  to  have 
been  built  by  a  company  of  shareholders  in  the  year  a.d.  id, 
and  to  have  been  used  mainly  by  the  slaves  and  freedmen 
of  Marcella,  the  niece  of  Augustus  ;  another  consists  of  three 
passages  forming  a  horseshoe,  with  room  for  800  inter- 
ments. This  was  somewhat  more  richly  decorated,  and  was 
used  by  well-to-do  people.  There  are  marble  brackets  pro- 
jecting from  the  upper  part  of  the  walls  which  carried  a 
wooden  balcony  for  the  use  of  those  who  owned  niches  in 
the  higher  rows.  The  whole  of  the  triangular  space  in- 
cluded between  the  Latin  and  Appian  Ways  and  the  walls 
of  Aurelian  was  once  occupied  by  burial-places  of  this 
kind. 

Just  before  we  reach  the  Porta  S.  Sebastiano  (the  Porta 
Appia  of  the  Aurelian  wall)  we  see  an  archway  of  travertine 
with  free  columns  oi giallo  antico  on  either  side  of  the  single 
bay  which  is  now  preserved  ;  traces  of  the  vaulting  of  the 
side-bays  are  visible.  This  is  popularly  identified  with 
the  Arch  of  Drusus,  set  up  in  honour  of  the  stepson 
of  Augustus  (youngest  brother  of  Tiberius),  who  died  while 
campaigning  on  the  Rhine  in  B.C.  9.     But  that  (as  we  have 


XL]  THE   emu  AN  AND  AVENTINE  263 

seen)  is  more  likely  to  have  stood  at  the  junction  of  the 
Appian  and  Latin  ways,  and  though  the  Composite  capitals 
of  the  columns  of  this  arch  seem  early  in  date,  its  archi- 
tecture suggests  that  it  belongs  to  the  time  of  Trajan 
rather  than  to  that  of  Augustus.  It  was  used  by  Caracalla 
to  carry  the  channel  of  the  aqueduct  by  which  his  baths 
were  supplied. 

Returning  to  the  cross-roads  at  the  S.  angle  of  the  Pala- 
tine hill,  we  may  now  turn  to  the  L.  and  cross  the  depression 
which  separates  the  Aventine  from  the  hill  to  the  S.  by  the 
Viale  Aventino,  which  follows  the  course  of  an  ancient  street, 
the  Viciis piscirice publiccE.  At  its  highest  point  (where  the 
Servian  wall  crossed  the  dip  and  was  pierced  by  the  gate- 
way from  which  issued  the  road  to  Ostia)  the  Via  di  S. 
Saba  leads  up  to  the  church  of  that  name  on  the  L.;  on  this 
see  Christian  Rorne^  p.  269,  and  notice  the  remains  of 
ancient  architecture  found  in  the  recent  excavations.  The 
private  residence  of  Hadrian  (occupied  by  M.  Aurelius  as 
crown  prince)  and  the  barracks  of  a  police  regiment  (cf.  p.  269) 
were  near  this  spot.  The  Via  di  S.  Prisca  (to  the  R.)  leads 
up  to  the  summit  of  the  Aventine  ;  it  is  on  the  line  of  the 
ancient  Clivus  Publicius.  The  Aventine  deserves  a  visit  for 
its  views  and  for  its  churches  ;  but  it  possesses  no  visible 
remains  of  antiquity. 

The  Via  di  Porta  S.  Paolo  here  diverges  to  the  L.,^  and  on 
the  R.  are  some  of  the  best  preserved  remains  of  the  Servian 
wall,  as  to  which  see  p.  356.  Following  the  Viale  Aventino 
and  crossing  the  Via  della  Marmorata,  we  may  take  the 
Via  Galvani  and  so  reach  the  Monte  Testaccio,  which  is 
115  feet  high  and  is  entirely  composed  of  broken  pottery — 
the  fragments  of  such  of  the  jars  in  which  wine,  oil,  grain, 
salt  fish,  etc.  were  imported,  as,  being  damaged  or  broken, 
were  of  no  further  use.  Most  of  them  came  from  Spain  (as 
their  inscriptions  show),  some  from  Africa.  The  formation 
of  the  mound  took  two  and  a  half  centuries — from  the  reign 
of  Augustus  to  that  of  Galhenus. 

There  was  once  a  fine  view  from  the  top  of  Monte  Tes- 
^  For  the  Porta  S.  Paolo  and  Pyramid  of  Cestius,  see  p.  360. 


264  THE   CMLIAN  AND  AVENTINE  [xi. 

taccio,  but  it  has  been  sadly  spoilt  by  the  erection  of  the 
new  quarter,  which  bears  an  evil  reputation.  It  is  built  on 
the  site  of  the  quays  and  warehouses  {Emporium  and  horred) 
of  Ancient  Rome,  of  which  many  remains  (especially  in  the 
Vigna  Cesarini,  N.  of  the  slaughter-houses)  have  come  to 
light.  The  Marmorata^  or  quay  where  marble  was  landed, 
was  near  to  the  W.  angle  of  the  Aventine.  More  than  600 
blocks  of  unused  marble,  many  of  them  with  inscriptions 
which  illustrate  the  management  of  this  Imperial  monopoly, 
have  been  found  there.  There  are  also  remains  of  the 
ancient  wall  and  quays,  partly  in  opus  quadratum  of  Repub- 
lican times,  but  for  the  most  part  of  Imperial  brickwork. 

Returning  towards  the  city  by  the  Via  della  Marmorata, 
which  traverses  the  narrow  strip  of  level  ground  between 
the  Aventine  and  the  Tiber,  we  come  to  the  Forum 
Boarium,  or  cattle  market,  one  of  the  earliest  centres  of  the 
busy  life  of  Rome,  now  the  Piazza  di  Bocca  della  Veritd  and 
its  neighbourhood.  No  trace  remains  of  its  most  famous 
sanctuary,  the  Ara  Maxima  or  "  great  altar  "  set  up,  accord- 
ing to  tradition,  by  Hercules,  which  marked  the  S.W.  angle 
of  the  pomerium  of  the  Palatine  settlement.  There  are, 
however,  two  temples  still  standing  in  or  near  the  Piazza, 
which  it  is  extremely  hard  to  identify  with  certainty.   • 

The  most  picturesque  of  these  is  the  round  temple  which 
has  been  converted  into  the  church  of  S.  Maria  del  Sole.  It 
is  popularly  called  the  "  Temple  of  Vesta "  because  of  its 
circular  form  (cf.  p.  71) ;  but  this  it  cannot  be.  There  was 
a  circular  temple  of  Hercules  Invictus,  said  to  have  been 
founded  by  the  hero  himself  at  the  same  time  as  the  Ara 
Maxima  :  but  this  we  know  to  have  been  to  the  S.  of  the 
piazza,  near  S.  Maria  in  Cosmedin.  The  existing  building 
is  therefore  to  be  identified  either  with  that  of  Mater 
Matuta,  the  goddess  of  the  dawn  (and  hence,  by  a  natural 
transition,  of  childbirth)  or  with  that  of  Portunus,  the  god  of 
the  harbour  {portus).  The  podium  on  which  the  temple 
rests  is  of  tufa  and  belongs  to  the  Republican  period,  but  the 
superstructure  is  of  solid  marble  (a  most  unusual  form  of 
building  in  Rome)  :  it  has  a  peristyle  of  twenty  Corinthian 


XI.]  THE   CMLIAN  AND  AVENTINE  265 

columns  (one  lost),  but  the  entablature  has  been  destroyed 
and  the  roof  is  modern. 

To  the  N.  of  it  is  the  small  Ionic  temple  which  is  now 
the  church  of  S.  Maria  Egiziaca.  If  the  round  temple  is  not 
that  of  Mater  Matuta,  we  may  assign  that  name  to  this 
building  :  if  it  is  we  may  see  in  this  the  temple  of  Fortuna/ 
which  we  know  to  have  been  near  the  other.  Both  these 
temples  were  destroyed  by  fire  in  213  B.C.  and  immediately 
restored  :  and  it  was  formerly  thought  that  S.  Maria 
Egiziaca  (whichever  of  the  two  it  represents)  belongs  to 
that  period  :  it  has  recently,  however,  been  argued  that  it  is 
not  earlier  than  the  first  century  B.C.  In  any  case,  it  is 
noteworthy  as  an  excellent  example  of  the  parsimony  of  the 
Republican  architects  in  the  use  of  travertine,  which  is 
reserved  for  the  angle  columns,  the  entablature,  and  some 
other  parts.  Notice  also  the  simphcity  of  the  Ionic  order, 
as  compared  with  the  ornate  forms  of  the  Corinthian  which 
we  have  seen  in  Imperial  temples.  There  was  originally  a 
pronaos  or  vestibule,  but  this  was  walled  up  when  the 
temple  was  turned  into  a  church. 

From  this  point  it  is  but  a  few  steps  to  the  modern  Ponte 
Palatino,  from  which  we  can  see,  looking  up-stream,  the 
ruined  Ponte  Rotto,  which  represents  the  first  stone  bridge 
built  over  the  Tiber  in  179  B.C.  and  named  Pons  ^Emilius 
after  the  censor,  M.  ^milius  Lepidus.  The  single  ancient 
pier,  whose  remains  can  be  seen,  belongs  to  a  restoration 
carried  out  by  Augustus.  The  bridge  was  partly  destroyed 
by  a  flood  in  1598  and  never  restored.  Until  it  was  built 
there  was  no  communication  between  Rome  and  the  R.  bank 
of  the  Tiber  (where  the  outwork  of  the  Janiculum  was  the 
only  defence)  except  by  the  wooden  p07is  sublicius  or  bridge 
of  piles  (that  which  was  held  by  Horatius  and  his  comrades 
in  the  well-known  legend).  An  inviolable  tradition  pre- 
scribed that  this  bridge  should  be  always  restored — as  it 
had  been  built — without  metal  of  any  sort ;  and  from  this 
fact  we  can  infer  its  high  antiquity.  It  must  have  stood 
near  the  modern  bridge. 

^  Not  Fortuna  Virilis,  as  it  is  commonly  called. 


266  THE  CMLIAN  AND  AVENTINE  [xi. 

Further  up-stream  we  see  the  island  in  the  Tiber,  conse- 
crated to  ^sculapius  in  292  B.C.  when  his  sacred  serpent 
was  brought  from  Epidaurus  and  swam  to  shore  there.  The 
temple  of  yEsculapius  is  represented  by  the  church  of 
S.  Bartolommeo.  The  island  was  surrounded  with  a  tra- 
vertine quay  in  the  form  of  a  ship,  and  we  can  see  some 
traces  of  this  at  the  S.  end. 

Looking  downstream,  we  can  see^ — unless  the  river  is  too 
high — the  mouth  of  the  Cloaca  Maxima,  with  its  neatly 
constructed  arch  in  three  rings  of  peperino  (see  p.  42). 

Returning  to  the  piazza,  we  may  visit  S.  Maria  in  Cos 
medin  {^Christian  Rotne,  p.  257)  and  examine  the  antique 
columns  engaged  in  its  walls,  which  show  that  the  nave  and 
sacristy  are  built  on  the  site  of  an  ancient  rectangular  hall, 
whose  major  axis  was  perpendicular  to  that  of  the  church. 
It  had  a  plain  back  wall  and  a  colonnade  on  three  sides, 
forming  an  open  loggia^  and  has  been  identified  as  the 
Statio  Annonce^  or  headquarters  of  the  Imperial  administra- 
tion of  the  corn  supply.  The  loggia  can  hardly  be  dated 
earlier  than  the  fourth  century  A.D.  Until  the  eighth  century 
the  church  extended  only  as  far  as  its  back  wall,  but  it 
was  enlarged  by  Hadrian  I  (a.d.  772-95)  who  added  the 
choir  and  apse,  and  for  this  purpose  destroyed  the  remains 
of  an  ancient  temple — either  that  of  Ceres,  Liber  and 
Libera,  built  in  494  B.C.,  or  of  Hercules  Pompeianus,  which 
is  said  to  have  been  "  near  the  Circus  Maximus."  Traces 
of  its  foundations  were  discovered  when  the  church  was 
restored.  Before  leaving  the  church,  notice  at  the  end  of 
the  portico  the  Bocca  del  la  Verita,  an  ancient  marble 
disc  'with  a  Triton's  mask  through  the  eyes,  nose,  and 
mouth  of  which  jets  of  water  or  steam  were  allowed  to  pass. 
It  takes  its  name  from  the  superstition  that  the  monster 
would  bite  off  the  hand  of  a  perjurer. 

Crossing  the  Piazza  dei  Cerchi,  we  come  to  the  Janus 
Quadrifrons,  an  arched  passage  with  four  entrances — as 
its  name  implies — which  marked  the  limit  of  the  Forum 
Boarium.  It  is  to  be  identified  with  the  "Arch  of  Con- 
stantine,"  mentioned  in  ancient  descriptions  of  Rome  ;  the 


XL]  THE  CMLIAN  AND  AVENTINE  267 

rudeness  of  its  workmanship,  as  well  as  the  fact  that  frag- 
ments of  earher  buildings  were  used  in  its  construction, 
points  to  a  late  date.  It  has  two  rows  of  niches  for  statues 
— forty-eight  in  all — but  several  of  these  are  unfinished. 

The  arch  stands  directly  over  the  Cloaca  Maxima,  and 
in  a  mill  in  the  Via  del  Velabro  we  can  see  the  vaulted 
channel  of  the  sewer.  This  great  work  of  drainage,  which 
first  made  the  marshy  ground  of  the  Forum  and  Velabrum 
habitable,  is  ascribed  to  the  Etruscan  kings  of  Rome  :  and 
there  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  regulation  of  the  watercourse 
was  of  very  early  date.  The  vaulting  of  the  tunnel,  which 
is  built  of  tufa  and  peperino  (with  sparing  use  of  travertine) 
is  of  the  Republican  period,  but  cannot  be  precisely  dated  : 
the  floor  was  paved,  like  a  road,  with  polygonal  blocks  of 
lava.  It  has  been  restored  in  several  places  with  the  brick- 
faced  concrete  of  Imperial  times. 

As  we  leave  the  Forum  Boarium  and  enter  the  Velabrum 
(see  p.  86),  we  see  on  our  L.,  close  to  the  church  of 
S.  Giorgio  in  Velabro,  the  Arcus  Argentariorum,  an  arch- 
way set  up  in  A.D.  204  in  honour  of  Septimius  Severus,  his 
wife  Julia  Domna,  and  his  sons,  Caracalla  and  Geta,  by 
the  "  silversmiths  and  cattle  merchants."  Notice  that  the 
inscription  on  the  architrave  has  been  partly  recut  over 
erasures.  Not  only  was  the  name  of  Geta  removed  (as  on 
the  arch  in  the  Forum),  but  also  that  of  Fulvia  Plautilla,  the 
wife  of  Caracalla,  whom  he  divorced  and  banished  in  a.d. 
205.  The  monument  is  not  a  true  arch,  but  a  flat  lintel 
resting  on  piers.  It  is  a  conspicuous  example  of  the  horror 
vacui  which  led  Roman  sculptors  in  the  decline  of  art  to 
cover  every  available  space  with  ornament  :  the  portraits  of 
Septimius  Severus  and  his  consort  on  the  inside  of  the  piers 
are  the  most  interesting  feature. 

The  Via  del  Velabro  leads  into  the  Via  di  S.  Teodoro  and 
so  to  the  Palatine  and  Forum. 


XII 

THE    RIGHT   BANK   OF  THE  TIBER 

f'^T^HE  R.  bank  of  the  Tiber  is  poor  in  ancient  remains. 
L  X  The  ager  Vaticamts,  from  which  the  palace  of  the 
Popes  derives  its  name,  embraced  the  whole  strip  of  land 
between  the  Lower  Tiber  and  the  territory  of  Veii,  and  the 
monies  Vaticani  included  both  the  Janiculum  and  Monte 
Mario.  Augustus  made  that  part  of  the  city  which  lay  on 
the  R.  bank,  together  with  the  island,  into  his  Fourteenth 
region  ;  but  its  limits  cannot  be  traced  with  certainty.  It 
must,  however,  have  been  much  larger  than  the  space  en- 
closed by  the  wall  of  Aurelian,  which  was  built  for  a  purely 
defensive  purpose  and  ran  almost  straight  from  the  Porta 
Aurelia  (modern  Porta  S.  Pancrazio)  to  the  nearest  points 
on  the  river  (close  to  Porta  Settimiana  and  Porta  Portese). 
The  district  opposite  to  the  island  and  the  Forum  Boarium, 
which  was  easily  approached  by  the  Pons  sublicius^  the 
Pons  ^jnilius  (p.  265)  and  the  bridges  connecting  the 
island  with  both  banks  of  the  river  {Pons  Fabricius  and 
Pons  Cestius^  both  dating  from  the  last  century  of  the 
Republic),  was  a  crowded  and  somewhat  unsavoury  quarter, 
like  the  modern  Trastevere  :  it  was  largely  inhabited  by 
foreigners,  especially  Jews,  who  continued  to  have  their 
settlement  there  until  they  were  removed  to  the  modern 
Ghetto  by  Paul  III.  But  the  rest  of  the  district,  including 
the  heights  of  the  Janiculum,  was  laid  out  in  parks 
and  villas.  Near  the  modern  Trastevere  station  were  the 
"Gardens  of  Csesar,"  where  the  Dictator  entertained 
Cleopatra  :  these  he  bequeathed  to  the  Roman  people.  In 
268 


XII.]       THE  RIGHT  BANK  OF  THE   TIBER        269 

the  grounds  of  the  Villa  Farnesina  was  found  the  luxurious 
private  house  whose  paintings  and  stuccoes  we  saw  in  the 
Museo  delle  Terme.  North  of  this  (in  the  Villa  Corsini  and 
the  site  occupied  by  the  prison  of  Regina  Coeli)  was  the 
"  Grove  of  the  Ccf  sars,"  where  Augustus  constructed  a  7iau- 
inachia  (fed  by  a  new  aqueduct)  in  which  sea-fights  were 
exhibited.  Next  to  this  were  the  "  Gardens  of  Agrippina," 
which  covered  the  whole  of  the  Vatican  district  and  the 
Borgo,  and  were  adjoined  by  the  "Gardens  of  Domitia,"  in 
the  Prati  di  Castello.  The  first-named  of  these  parks 
became  the  property  of  Caligula  on  his  mother's  death,  the 
second  was  seized  by  Nero,  who  caused  his  aunt  Domitia 
to  be  murdered.  In  this  great  Imperial  park  was  the 
Vatican  Circus,  the  scene  of  the  first  Christian  martyrdoms 
and  therefore  also  of  the  central  church  of  Christendom  ; 
and  hard  by  was  the  great  Mausoleum  of  Hadrian.  We 
know  less  of  the  ancient  aspect  of  the  Janiculum  ;  but 
recent  excavations  have  brought  to  light  (in  the  Villa 
Sciarra  and  its  neighbourhood)  two  sites  hallowed  by 
ancient  worships  of  very  diverse  character — the  Lucus 
Furrincc^  a  grove  sacred  to  the  goddess  Furrina,  the  very 
meaning  of  whose  name  was  lost  in  historical  times,  and 
a  sanctuary  in  which  a  strange  medley  of  syncretistic 
Oriental  cults  was  carried  on  under  the  Later  Empire.] 

We  may  cross  the  river,  either  by  the  island  and  its  two 
bridges,-  noticing  the  ancient  herms  from  which  the  Pons 
Fabricius — an  ancient  structure  of  tufa  and  peperino  faced 
with  travertine,  built  in  62  B.C.  and  restored  in  21  B.C.,  as 
the  inscription  on  its  arches  tells  us — takes  its  name  of  Ponte 
dei  Quattro  Capi  ;  or  else  by  the  Ponte  Garibaldi,  which 
leads  to  the  Piazza  of  San  Crisogono.  To  the  l.,  in  the  Via 
Monte  di  Fiore,  is  the  Excubitorium  of  the  Seventh 
Cohort  of  Vigiles.  Amongst  the  blessings  which  the 
enlightened  despotism  of  Augustus  conferred  upon  Rome 
was  the  establishment  of  an  organised  night-watch  and  fire- 
brigade,  dating  from  A.D.  6  and  consisting  of  7000  freedmen 
in  seven  regiments  {cohortes).  Each  regiment  thus  did 
duty  for  two  of  the  "  regions "  ;  and  to  the  seventh  was 


270         THE  RIGHT  BANK  OF  THE  TIBER      [xii. 

entrusted  the  Ninth  (Circus  Flaminius,  including  the 
Campus  Martius)  and  Fourteenth.  The  barracks  which  we 
see  were  sumptuously  decorated,  and  seem  to  have  been  in 
origin  a  private  house,  leased  or  appropriated  by  the 
Government  at  the  beginning  of  the  third  century  A.D.  On 
descending  the  stairs  we  enter  the  atrium  of  the  house, 
paved  in  mosaic,  with  a  hexagonal  fountain  and  a  shrine 
decorated  with  faded  paintings  ;  and  other  rooms  are 
accessible,  especially  a  suite  of  baths  (to  the  R.)  where  the 
slabs  and  panels  of  coloured  marbles  with  which  the  walls 
are  veneered  should  be  observed.  In  the  atrium  are 
a  number  of  inscriptions  scratched  by  the  firemen,  ranging 
in  date  from  A.D.  215  to  A.D.  245. 

An  ancient  bathroom  with  flue-tiles  may  be  seen  in  the 
church  of  S.  Cecilia  {Christian  Rome^  p.  273),  and  in  the 
lower  church  are  the  remains  of  a  large  tannery  with 
circular  pits  ;  there  is  a  relief  of  Minerva,  the  patroness  of 
arts  and  crafts,  in  a  small  niche. 

The  view  from  the  summit  of  the  Janiculum  has  already 
been  described  (p.  4). 

THE  VATICAN  COLLECTIONS 

[In  order  to  visit  the  Vatican  Museum  of  sculpture  we 
proceed  to  the  Piazza  di  S.  Pietro — notice  the  obelisk 
brought  by  Caligula  from  Heliopolis  to  adorn  his  Circus, 
and  removed  to  its  present  position  in  1586 — and  thence 
round  the  church  of  S.  Pietro  by  the  Via  delle  Fondamenta 
to  the  entrance  of  the  museum. 

The  Papal  collection  of  antiquities  dates  from  the 
Pontificate  of  Julius  II  (1503-13),  the  greatest  of  the 
Renaissance  Popes,  and  the  most  completely  representative 
of  the  spirit  of  that  age.  As  was  said  above  (p.  102),  Sixtus 
IV  had  founded  the  first  pubHc  museum  of  ancient  sculp- 
ture on  the  Capitol,  and  placed  it  under  the  guardianship 
of  the  Conservatori  ;  but  Julius  II,  while  leaving  to  the  city 
of  Rome  the  monuments  which  recalled  its  august  history, 
reserved  for  himself  the  masterpieces  of  classical  art   of 


'XII.]       THE  RIGHT  BANK  OF  THE  TIBER        271 

which  the  soil  of  Rome  was  beginning  to  yield  a«  rich 
harvest.  In  the  garden-house  or  Belvedere  built  by 
Innocent  VIII  were  placed  the  Apollo  (transferred  from 
the  gardens  of  Giuliano  della  Rovere's  palace  by  S.  Pietro 
in  Vincoli  when  he  became  Pope),  the  Laocoon  (discovered 
in  1506  near  the  "  Sette  .Sale"— see  p.  227),  the  so-called 
Cleopatra,  now  in  the  Galleria  delle  Statue  (which  may  have 
come  from  the  Baths  of  Agrippa),  and  other  statues.  It 
would  be  tedious  to  enumerate  even  the  most  famous  of  the 
works  added  to  this  collection  by  the  immediate  successors 
of  JuHus  II— suffice  it  to  mention  the  Nile,  found  on  the 
site  of  the  temple  of  Isis  in  the  Campus  Martins  in  15 13, 
and  the  Torso  of  the  Belvedere,  acquired  from  the  Colonna 
by  Clement  VII.  The  growth  of  the  collection  was,  how- 
ever, abruptly  checked  by  the  Popes  of  the  Reaction  soon 
after  the  middle  of  the  sixteenth  century.  Pius  IV,  anxious 
to  obtain  from  the  Medici  the  recognition  of  his  shadowy 
claims  to  relationship,  sent  some  of  the  statues  to  Florence  : 
and  more  than  this,  he  imprisoned  the  "  heathen  "  figures  of 
the  Cortile  del  Belvedere  within  locked  gateways  !  His 
successor,  Pius  V,  as  we  have  already  seen  (p.  104),  handed 
over  all  but  a  small  number  of  statues  to  the  Conservator! — 
others  were  presented  to  the  Medici  and  the  Holy  Roman 
Emperor.  The  seventeenth  century  Popes  were  engrossed 
in  the  accumulation  of  wealth  and  the  adornment  of  their 
family  palaces — it  is  enough  to  mention  the  Aldobrandini, 
the  Borghese,  the  Barberini,  and  the  Doria-Pamfili  collec- 
tions, which  sprang  from  this  source.  And  it  was  not  until 
the  second  half  of  the  eighteenth  century — when  Clement 
XII  and  Benedict  XIV  had  already  given  to  the  Museo 
Capitolino  its  present  aspect— that  the  great  expansion  of 
the  Papal  collections  began.  Clement  XIV  (1769-75)  and 
Pius  VI  (177 5 -1 800)  gathered  together  the  treasures  of  art 
which  formed  the  Museo  Pio-Cleinenlino.  In  order  to  house 
these  collections,  the  former  Pope  built  the  portico  which 
surrounds  the  octagonal  Cortile  of  the  Belvedere  and  turned 
the  remaining  portions  of  Bramante's  building  into  the 
Galleria  delle  Statue  ;   this  Pius  VI  extended,  at  the  same 


272         THE  RIGHT  BANK  OF  THE  TIBER      [xii. ' 

time  building  the  Sala  degli  Animali,  the  Sala  delle  Muse 
and  Rotonda,  and  connecting  them  with  the  existing  W. 
wing  of  the  Giardino  della  Pigna  by  the  Sala  a  croce 
Greca  and  the  staircase.  He  also  built  the  smaller  rotunda 
of  the  Sala  della  Biga  and  transformed  Bramante's  open 
loggia  into  the  Galleria  dei  Candelabri.  Pius  VII  (1800-23) 
saw  the  treasures  collected  by  his  predecessors  plundered 
by  the  French  invader,  and  determined  to  replace  them, 
amassing  in  three  years  the  sculptures  of  the  Museo  Chiara- 
monti  which  bears  his  name  !  The  fall  of  Napoleon  re- 
stored to  the  Popes  most  of  the  spoils  yielded  by  the 
Vatican  to  the  Louvre,  and  it  became  necessary  to  build  the 
Braccio  Nuovo,  completed  in  1821.  The  overflow  of  the 
earlier  collections  found  a  place  in  the  Galleria  Lapidaria. 

The  great  period  of  excavation  in  Etruria  was  now 
beginning,  and  the  next  addition  of  importance  was  made 
to  the  Papal  collections  by  Gregory  XVI  (1831-46),  who 
formed  the  Museo  Gregoriano  ;  he  was  also  the  founder  of 
the  Egyptian  Museum,  to  which  the  Capitoline  collection 
and  the  excavations  of  Hadrian's  Villa  contributed.  The 
remainder  of  the  nineteenth  century  added  but  little  to  the 
treasures  of  the  Vatican  save  a  few  sculptures  of  which  the 
Apoxyomenos  and  the  statue  of  Augustus  from  Prima  Porta 
are  the  most  famous. 

The  Vatican  also  possesses  (in  the  Library)  a  small  but 
priceless  collection  of  ancient  paintings,  acquired  by  Pius 
VII  and  his  successors.] 

Ascending  the  entrance  stairs,  we  come  to  the  5ala  a 
croce  greca,  or  Hall  in  the  shape  of  a  Greek  cross  (with 
four  equal  arms).  On  either  side  of  the  entrance  are 
Sphinxes,  and  beside  the  exit  are  two  figures  in  Egyptian 
style  from  Hadrian's  Villa  which  served  as  "Telamones" 
(the  masculine  counterpart  of  Caryatides).  They  had  been 
erroneously  supposed  to  represent  Antinous.  The  most 
conspicuous  objects  in  the  room  are  the  two  porphyry 
sarcophagi.  That  on  the  L.  (566)  was  brought  by  Pius  VI 
from  the  church  of  S.  Costanza  {Christian  Rome,  p.  329), 
and  once  contained  the  body  of  Constantia,  daughter  of 


$rc6. 


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Q  i<j  U. 


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■•^  i5Cl  Vj  (Ci    3;    X 


274         THE  RIGHT  BANK  OF  THE  TIBER      [xii. 

Constantine  the  Great.  It  is  in  perfect  preservation  ;  the 
body  and  lid  are  each  formed  of  a  single  block  of  porphyry. 
The  vintage-scenes  with  which  it  is  decorated  may  be 
compared  with  the  mosaics  of  the  church  from  which  it 
came.  Like  them,  they  are  pagan  both  in  conception  and 
in  such  details  as  the  winged /«/"//.  The  other  sarcophagus 
(589)  was  once  in  the  Mausoleum  of  St.  Helena,  mother  of 
Constantine  the  Great,  on  the  Via  Labicana  (now  Tor 
Pignattara),  but  may  have  been  originally  made  not  for  her, 
but  for  her  husband,  Constantius  Chlorus.  It  was  brought 
by  Anastasius  IV  (11 53-4)  to  the  Lateran  for  his  own  use, 
and  suffered  much  damage  in  transport ;  when  brought  by 
Pius  VI  to  the  Vatican  it  was  subjected  to  restorations 
which  occupied  nine  years.  The  style  of  the  reliefs,  which 
represent  the  victory  of  Roman  cavalry  over  barbarians, 
somewhat  resembles  that  of  the  side-scenes  of  the  base  of 
the  Antonine  column  (p.  332),  and  it  has  even  been  sug- 
gested that  this  sarcophagus  is  of  that  period.  But  the 
resemblance  is  purely  external. 

On  the  floor  are  three  mosaics — by  the  entrance  one  which 
represents  a  basket  of  flowers,  remarkable  for  its  colouring, 
in  the  centre  a  shield  with  a  head  of  Athena,  by  the  exit  a 
figure,  possibly  Dionysus,  pouring  forth  the  contents  of  a 
Cantharos  on  a  flower. 

To  the  L.  (near  the  entrance)  we  see  (600)  a  reclining 
river-god,  which  once  adorned  the  fountain  in  the  Cortile 
del  Belvedere  (the  restorations  are  easily  distinguished, 
and  include  the  tiger's  mask  from  which  the  statue 
came  to  be  called  the  Tigris)  :  a  bust  of  Hadrian  (from 
Ostia) ;  and  (in  the  niche)  a  copy  of  the  Cnidian  Aphro- 
dite of  Praxiteles.  The  head,  which  belongs  to  another 
and  a  poorer  copy,  should  be  turned  more  to  the  L.  and  look 
slightly  upwards  :  and  the  drapery  of  metal  which  hides  the 
lower  part  of  the  statue  is  of  course  modern.  The  goddess 
has  just  laid  aside  her  last  garment  and  is  about  to  step  into 
the  bath.  The  gesture  of  her  R.  hand  is  due  to  the  instinc- 
tive modesty  of  womanhood,  and  we  are  not  for  one  instant 
to  imagine  that  she  is  conscious  of  human  spectators— that 


XII.]      THE  RIGHT  BANK  OF  THE  TIBER        275 

is  a  refinement  which  we  owe  to  later  sculptors  (such  as  the 
one  who  carved  the  Venus  of  the  Capitol),  who  failed  to 
enter  into  the  spirit  of  Praxiteles'  creation.  His  ideal  of 
Aphrodite  is  that  of  the  perfect  woman— perfect,  that  is,  in 
physical  health  and  beauty  :  and  it  is  still  a  religious  ideal, 
though  a  different  one  from  that  of  the  fifth  century,  and 
indeed  one  which  even  to  some  of  his  contemporaries 
seemed  to  fall  short  of  divinity :  for  we  are  told  that  the 
Coans,  to  whom  Praxiteles  offered  the  choice  between  this 
statue  and  a  draped  one,  chose  the  second.  It  is  well  worth 
while  to  study  the  type  in  a  good  museum  of  casts,  where 
the  body  of  this  figure  (cast  in  1887 — the  statue  has  never 
been  photographed  without  its  tin  drapery  ! )  is  combined 
with  a  magnificent  copy  of  the  head,  now  in  Berlin. 

571  is  a  statue  of  the  Muse  of  Tragedy,  Melpomene, 
which  has  been  wrongly  restored  with  the  double  flute,  and 
should  hold  a  tragic  mask  and  perhaps  also  a  sword.  The 
treatment  of  the  drapery  shows  that  the  artist  was  inspired 
by  fifth-century  models,  but  the  height  at  which  the  tunic  is 
girt  points  to  a  later  date,  and  the  conception  seems  eclectic 
and  may  be  of  the^  Roman  period. 

Several  of  the  statues  in  this  room  were  found  in  the 
ruins  of  an  ancient  theatre  and  basilica  at  Otricoli  (Ocricu- 
lum)  and  are  fair  examples  of  the  work  produced  for  the 
adornment  of  the  country  towns  of  Italy  under  the  Empire. 
Such  are  the  seated  Muses,  to  L.  (569)  Clio  with  roll,  to 
R.  (587)  Euterpe  with  flute,  the  two  statues  of  Augustus 
(565  and  597),  and  that  of  an  orator  addressing  the  people 
(592).  Contrast  the  academic  style  of  these  works  with  the 
quite  different  and  somewhat  theatrical  mannerisms  of  (564) 
the  statue  of  the  youthful  Lucius  Verus  (the  unworthy  co- 
regent  of  Marcus  Aurelius)  found  in  the  Forum  of  Proeneste 
(Palestrina). 

To  the  R.  notice  (on  the  wall  behind  the  sarcophagus  of 
S.  Helena)  the  inscription  referred  to  on  p.  201,  which  con- 
tains the  song  of  the  Arval  brotherhood.  We  next  pass  into 
the  Rotunda,  in  the  centre  of  which  is  a  large  porphyry 
basin  said  to  have  been  found  in  the  Baths  of  Titus.     The 


276        THE  RIGHT  BANK  OF  THE  TIBER      [xii. 

outer  sections  of  the  mosaic  pavement,  which  represents 
sea-monsters,  Tritons,  etc.  were  found  at  Scrofano  ;  the  re- 
mainder (except  the  head  of  Medusa  in  the  centre,  which  is 
modern)  came  from  the  Baths  at  Otricoh,  and  belonged  to 
an  octagonal  domed  hall.  The  central  space  was  left  open, 
perhaps  for  the  passage  of  hot  air  from  below  (which  may 
then  have  been  allowed  to  escape  by  an  aperture  in  the 
cupola  like  that  of  the  Pantheon). 

Proceeding  from  L.  to  R.  we  notice  first  (553)  a  colossal 
head  of  Plotina,  the  wife  of  Trajan.  The  plastic  rendering 
of  the  iris  and  pupil  and  the  high  polish  indicate  that  it 
was  executed  under  Hadrian,  who  caused  his  adoptive 
mother  to  be  defied  on  her  death  in  129  B.C. 

Next  is  (552)  a  colossal  statue  of  Juno  Sospita  (the  De- 
liverer). The  chief  seat  of  her  worship  was  at  Lanuvium 
(Civitk  Lavigna),  where  it  was  carried  on  as  a  state -cult  of 
the  Roman  people  ;  but  she  also  had  a  temple  in  Rome. 
She  is  characterised  by  the  goat-skin  and  serpent,  and  is 
always  armed  with  the  lance.  The  statue  is  interesting  as  a 
creation  of  Roman  art,  which  had  here  no  Greek  model  at 
hand  ;  notice  its  somewhat  archaic  and  conventional  forms 
Antoninus  Pius,  who  was  born  at  Lanuvium,  was  a  devout 
worshipper  of  the  goddess,  and  the  workmanship  of  the 
statue  points  to  his  reign. 

We  now  come  to  (551)  a  head,  and  (550)  a  statue  of 
Claudius;  contrast  the  idealised  features  of  the  first  (found 
at  Otricoli)  with  the  faithful  portrayal  of  the  weak,  yet 
benevolent,  features  in  the  second,  which  is  so  strangely 
discordant  with  the  type  of  Jupiter  in  whose  guise  the 
Emperor  is  represented.  Claudius  has  never,  until  our  own 
time,  received  his  meed  of  justice  ;  and  such  a  statue  as  this 
is  a  real  help  to  our  understanding  of  his  character — a 
strange  blend  of  pedantry,  self-indulgence,  and  yet  genuine 
desire  for  the  good  of  his  subjects. 

Let  us  now  look  at  three  heads  (549,  547,  and  539)  which 
represent  different  nuances  of  the  same  ideal.  Greek 
religion  recognised  a  trinity  of  ruler — Zeus,  Poseidon,  and 
Hades — the  seats  of  whose  power  were  in  heaven,  the  sea. 


XII.]      THE  RIGHT  BANK  OF  THE  TIBER       277 

and  the  earth.  Zeus  was  of  course  the  supreme  ruler  of 
gods  and  men  ;  and  in  No.  539  (found  at  Otricoli)  we  have 
a  magnificent  embodiment  of  the  Homeric  divinity  who 
"nodded  his  dark  brows,  and  the  ambrosial  locks  waved 
from  the  King's  immortal  head  :  and  he  caused  great  Olym- 
pus to  quake  "—a  description  which  undoubtedly  inspired 
the  artist.  The  lofty  forehead  betokens  supreme  intellectual 
power  ;  the  deep  furrow  tells  of  the  care  from  which  the 
ruler  of  the  universe  is  never  free  ;  the  gracious  expression 
of  the  eyes  is  that  of  one  whose  wrath  can  be  as  fearful 
as  his  mercy  is  sublime.  Doubtless  this  type  could  never 
have  been  created  had  not  Phidias  fixed  the  ideal  of  Zeus  in 
his  statue  of  gold  and  ivory  at  Olympia  ;  but  our  head  be- 
longs to  a  later  stage  in  the  history  of  art.  Fortunately 
No.  549  throws  a  flood  of  light  on  its  origin.  This  is  a 
head  of  Sarapis,  the  divinity  in  whose  worship  Greeks 
and  Egyptians  joined  in  the  newly-founded  city  of  Alexan- 
dria. The  name  is  compounded  of  Osiris  and  Apis,  and  the 
former  was  identified  by  the  Greeks  with  Hades,  the  god  of 
the  under-world.  Ptolemy  I  commissioned  Bryaxis,  an 
Attic  sculptor  who  had  worked  on  the  Mausoleum,  to  give 
a  concrete  embodiment  to  the  new  divinity  ;  and  (as  we  see 
from  a  comparison  of  other  replicas,  some  found  at  Alexan- 
dria) he  found  what  he  sought  in  a  delicate  but  significant 
modification  of  the  ideal  of  Zeus.  The  god  of  night  and 
death,  whose  clemency  is  tinged  with  sadness,  lacks  some- 
thing of  the  majesty  and  forcefulness  of  Zeus.  We  shall  see 
another  example  of  the  type  in  the  Sala  dei  Busti  (p.  295)  ; 
this  latter  is  made  of  green  basalt,  and  this  helps  us  to 
form  an  idea  of  the  original,  which  was  built  up  on  a  wooden 
core  with  plates  of  blue-black  metal.  The  copy  before  us  is 
a  work  of  the  Antonine  age,  and  the  excessive  use  of  the 
drill  in  the  working  of  the  hair  has  a  disturbing  effect.  The 
modiiis  or  corn-measure  on  the  head  symbolises  the  bounti- 
ful harvests  which  mankind  owes  to  the  god  of  the  earth  : 
and  the  holes  in  the  fillet  were  once  filled  by  rays  symbolical 
of  the  solar  aspect  of  Osiris,  who  gave  light  to  the  living  by 
day  and  to  the  dead  by  night.     Finally,  we  have  in  547 


278        THE  RIGHT  BANK  OF  THE  TIBER      [xii. 

another  and  a  much  later  derivative  from  the  ideal  of  Zeus. 
Found  near  Pozzuoli,  it  has  been  thought  to  personify  the 
bay  of  Bai^  under  a  form  already  used  in  like  manner  by 
Hellenistic  art.  The  vine-leaves  and  clusters  with  which  the 
dripping  head  is  wreathed  will  then  be  symbolical  of  the 
vineyards  which  cover  the  slopes  of  that  bay.  The 
bull's  horns  are  appropriate  to  the  stormy  element ;  the 
dolphins  playing  in  the  flowing  beard,  the  breast  covered 
with  sea-plants,  and  the  waves  carved  on  the  bust  are 
scarcely  more  expressive  of  the  nature  of  the  sea-god 
than  the  almost  wistful  expression  which  differentiates 
him  from  the  mighty  ruler  of  Olympus. 

Let  us  now  turn  to  the  two  female  divinities,  542  and  546. 
We  have  seen,  in  the  Saloneof  the  Museo  Capitolino,  a  figure 
very  like  the  first,  and  in  the  cloister  of  the  Museo  delle 
Terme,  a  variant  of  the  second.  542  may  represent  either 
Hera  or  Demeter :  in  the  latter  case  tke  r.  hand  should 
hold  ears  of  corn  and  not  a  bowl  (both  arms  are,  of  course, 
restored).  It  belongs,  as  the  simplicity  of  the  drapery 
shows,  to  the  school  of  Phidias — perhaps  to  one  of  his 
pupils,  Alcamenes  or  Agoracritus.^  The  second  is  likewise 
derived  from  Attic  sculpture  of  the  fifth  century,  but  of 
a  somewhat  later  time,  when  artists  were  beginning  to  take 
more  interest  in  the  representation  of  drapery  for  its  own 
sake,  and  especially  in  the  contrast  between  the  thin  mate- 
rial of  the  tunic  and  the  heavier  stuff  of  the  woollen  upper 
garment.  It  may  be  that  what  we  see  here  is  an  adaptation 
of  the  Attic  type  of  Hera  to  express  the  ideal  of  Juno  for  a 
Roman  temple,  such  as  that  built  by  Metellus  Macedonicus 
in  the  Porticus  Octavias  (p.  166).  We  shall  see  an  almost 
exactly  similar  figure  in  the  Braccio  Nuovo. 

Between  these  figures  stands  (544)  a  colossal  figure  of 
Heracles  in  gilt  bronze.  This  was  found  near  the  Campo 
dei  Fiori,  and  almost  certainly  stood  in  the  Theatre  of  Pom- 


^  The  statue  was  found  near  the  Cancelleria,  and  has  on  that 
ground  been  supposed  to  have  adorned  the  Theatre  of  Pompey 
(p.  167). 


i 


XII.]      THE  RIGHT  BANK  OF  THE  TIBER       279 

pey  (or  in  one  of  the  adjoining  colonnades)  in  ancient  times. 
It  had  been  damaged  (particularly  by  the  flattening  of  the 
head)  and  then  walled  up  with  blocks  oi peperino.  It  is  a 
work  of  the  Roman  period— perhaps  executed  in  Pompey's 
own  time — and  somewhat  coarse  in  execution  ;  but  it  repro- 
duces a  type  created  by  Scopas.  The  hero  is  holding  the 
apples  of  the  Hesperides  (rightly  restored)  in  his  R.  hand. 
We  saw  a  statue  of  the  same  class  in  the  upper  corridor  of 
the  Palazzo  dei  Conservatori. 

545,  to  the  L.  of  the  Heracles,  is  a  bust  of  Antinous 
(found  in  Hadrian's  Villa),  and  the  statue  540  (from 
a  villa  near  Palestrina)  represents  him  with  the  attributes  of 
Dionysus  (the  thyrsus  in  the  L.  hand  in  a  restoration,  but  a 
correct  one).  When  Hadrian  caused  divine  honours  to  be 
paid  to  his  favourite,  he  was  identified  with  many  deities,^ 
but  with  none  so  frequently  as  Dionysus.  The  late  and 
short-lived  Renaissance  of  Hellenism  which  Hadrian  fos- 
tered produced  its  one  masterpiece  in  this  semi-ideal  type, 
with  its  sensuous,  yet  sombre  features  and  melancholy  gaze. 
Hadrian  himself  is  represented  in  the  fine  bust  (543),  found, 
together  with  a  colossal  head  of  Antoninus  Pius,  in  his 
Mausoleum.  Here,  too,  we  have  a  touch  of  idealism  in  the 
portrait  of  the  man  of  genius,  whose  insatiable  thirst  for  the 
knowledge  of  all  secrets  led  him  into  ways  little  understood 
by  his  contemporaries. 

Contrast  him  with  Nerva — if  it  be  indeed  Nerva  who 
is  represented  by  (548)  the  splendid  seated  statue  of  an 
enthroned  Emperor ;  and  though  the  profile  is  in  part  the 
work  of  the  restorer,  it  is  hard  to  see  who  else  can  be 
the  subject,  seeing  that  the  figure  clearly  belongs  to  the  best 
period  of  Roman  art.  Notice  the  slope  of  the  body,  which 
is  of  course  not  accurate  if  the  figure  is  seated  on  a  flat 
surface,  but  is  a  conventional  pose  which  adds  immensely  to 
its  impressiveness.  The  restorer  has  placed  a  laurel-wreath 
on  the  head,  but  it  should  perhaps  rather  be  the  corona 
civica  or  oak-wreath,  such  as  that  which  Claudius  wears  in 
No.  550. 

^  We  have  seen  him  as  Vertumnus  in  the  Lateran  (p.  233). 


28o        THE  RIGHT  BANK  OF  THE  TIBER     [xil. 

Later  phases  of  Imperial  portraiture  are  illustrated  by 
541,  a  head  of  Faustina  the  elder,  wife  of  Antoninus  Pius, 
found  in  Hadrian's  Villa;  554  (next  to  the  entrance),  which 
represents  Julia  Domna,  the  wife  of  Septimius  Severus  and 
mother  of  Caracalla — a  fine  example  of  the  breadth  of  treat- 
ment necessary  to  colossal  portraiture,  which  (like  the  busts 
of  Caracalla)  shows  us  that  Roman  craftsmen  were  slow 
to  lose  their  cunning  ;  and  (556)  a  head  which  has  been — 
very  doubtfully — identified  as  that  of  Pertinax,  the  successor 
of  Commodus  chosen  by  the  praetorian  guards,  but  mur- 
dered by  them  in  the  following  year.  At  any  rate,  the  head 
belongs  to  the  close  of  the  second  century. 

Lastly,  555  represents  not  Augustus  himself  (though 
it  bears  his  features),  but  his  genius — i.e.  his  spiritual 
"  double,"  which  was  worshipped  together  with  his  Lares  or 
house-gods  (cf.  what  was  said  as  to  the  altar  in  the  Palazzo 
dei  Conservatori,  p.  137  f.).  This  we  infer  from  the  type  and 
attributes,  which  are  those  of  the  statue  representing  the 
genius  of  the  paterfamilias  which  stood  in  every  Roman 
house  between  those  of  the  Lares. 

We  now  pass  through  the  entrance  on  the  R.  into  the 
Sala  delle  Muse,  noticing  on  either  side  of  the  opening 
colossal  female  heads  (found  in  Hadrian's  Villa)  which 
represents  the  Muses  of  Tragedy  and  (as  we  are  almost 
obliged  to  assume)  of  Comedy.  The  former  (537)  is  clearly 
distinguished  by  the  wreath  of  vine-foliage  and  the  similarity 
of  type  to  that  of  Melpomene.  But  the  other  (538)  also 
wears  the  high  headdress  (Onkos)'^  proper  to  the  tragic 
actor  ;  and  this  is  hard  to  explain.  The  high  surface- 
polish  and  smooth  but  lifeless  execution  of  the  heads  is 
characteristic  of  the  period  of  Hadrian. 

In  the  passage  are  unimportant  statues  of  (533)  Athena 
and  (535)  Mnemosyne,  the  mother  of  the  Muses. 

The  hall  itself  is  an  octagon  with  ante-rooms  at  either 
end,  containing  the  famous  group  of  Apollo  and  the  Muses 
to  which  it  owes  its  name,  and  a  number  of  Greek  portrait- 

^  This  was  a  frame  on  which  the  hair  was  built  up. 


XII.]      THE  RIGHT  BANK  OF  THE  TIBER       281 

herms  ;  the  group  (save  two  statues)  and  some  of  the 
portraits  were  found  in  the  grounds  of  an  ancient  villa  on 
the  slopes  outside  Tivoli,  and  are  typical  of  the  decoration 
in  vogue  amongst  the  owners  of  such  parks  under  the 
Empire. 

In  the  ante-room,  on  the  L.,  is  (525)  a  very  moderate  copy 
of  the  famous  portrait  of  Pericles  by  Cresilas  ;  there  is 
a  better  example  in  the  British  Museum,  and  we  have  seen 
a  replica  in  the  Museo  Barracco.  The  treatment  is  ideal 
rather  than  individual :  Attic  art  in  the  middle  of  the  fifth 
century  could  express  character  in  general  terms,  but  it  had 
not  yet  arrived  at  true  portraiture.  Compare  the  Anacreon 
of  the  Palazzo  dei  Conservatori.  The  so-called  "  Julian " 
(as  was  said  above,  p.  119)  is  perhaps  the  earliest  work  in 
which  the  features  of  an  individual  are  rendered  with  any 
exactitude.  Beside  Pericles  has  been  placed  (523)  a  female 
portrait-herm  with  the  name  of  Aspasia  rudely  engraved  on 
the  bottom  of  the  shaft :  if  this  is  indeed  a  portrait  of  the 
mistress  of  Pericles,  it  is  due  to  the  fancy  of  a  later  time, 
and  the  type  is  quite  conventional.  524  is  a  female  statue 
restored  as  a  Muse. 

Opposite  to  these  are  two  herms  belonging  to  a  group  of 
the  Seven  Sages.  Under  the  portrait  of  each  was  inscribed 
his  motto.  Thus  we  have  (531)  Periander,  the  tyrant  of 
Corinth,  with  the  adage  "  Practice  is  everything,"  and  (528) 
Bias  of  Priene,  whose  motto  was  "  Most  men  are  bad." 
These  are  not  contemporary  portraits,  but  ideal  creations 
belonging  to  the  early  Hellenistic  age,  and  though  they  are 
but  poor  copies,  and  have,  moreover,  been  over-cleaned  by 
an  injudicious  restorer,  they  are  fine  examples  of  the 
character-study  in  which  Greek  art  excelled  no  less  than 
Greek  literature.  The  Seven  Sages  presented  to  the  artist 
precisely  the  type  of  problem  which  fascinated  him,  for 
they  were  representative  of  the  age  which  saw  the  emer- 
gence of  personality  in  Greek  affairs— an  age  whose  traditions 
clustered  about  a  few  striking  individuals.  Between  these 
herms  is  (530)  a  portrait-statue  of  poor  workmanship, 
representing,  not  (as  has  been  supposed)  Lycurgus,  but  a 


282        THE  RIGHT  BANK  OF  THE  TIBER     [xii. 

literary  personage  of  the  Alexandrian  age  to  whom  we 
cannot  give  a  name. 

In  the  centre  of  the  R.  wall  of  the  octagon  is  Apollo,  clad 
in  the  flowing  robe  of  the  citharocdus^  playing  and  singing 
to  the  lyre,  his  head  wreathed  with  bay  and  thrown  back. 
Unfortunately  the  copy  is  a  poor  one — the  folds  of  the 
drapery  are  especially  lifeless. 

Of  the  nine  Muses  by  whom  he  is  surrounded  seven  only 
were  found  in  the  same  place.  To  complete  the  number 
there  were  added  (504,  in  the  middle  to  the  L.)  a  statue  now 
restored  with  globe  and  stilus  as  Urania,  but  originally  a 
figure  of  Persephone  with  torch  in  R.  and  flowers  in  L.,  or, 
it  may  be,  a  spinning-girl  with  distaff  in  L. — in  any  case, 
a  charming  creation  of  Praxiteles  or  his  school^ — and  (520, 
next  but  one  to  Apollo)  a  seated  maiden  (recalling  the 
figures  found  in  the  Palatine  Stadium,  p.  97)  who  has  been 
restored  with  the  flute  as  Euterpe — really  a  genre  type  of 
Hellenistic  date. 

Let  us  now  look  at  the  Muses  originally  grouped  with 
Apollo,  some  seated  and  some  standing.  To  the  L.  we 
have  (508)  Polyhymnia,  here  represented  as  the  Muse  of 
the  ballet,  crowned  with  roses,  just  grasping  in  her  R.  hand 
her  graceful  drapery  in  order  to  accompany  the  motions  of 
her  body  with  those  of  the  cloak.  Then  comes  (505)  Clio, 
the  Muse  of  history,  with  a  roll  of  parchment  in  her  lap  : 
the  head  is  antique,  but  does  not  belong  to  the  statue. 
After  504  (see  above)  comes  (503)  Thalia,  the  Muse  of 
comedy,  crowned  with  ivy  and  further  characterised  as 
the  handmaid  of  Dionysus  by  the  mask,  crook,  and  tam- 
bourine. Very  different  is  (499)  Melpomene,  the  Tragic 
Muse,  with  her  piled-up  hair — see  what  was  said  as  to 
No.  537 — vine-wreath,  mask  (representing  the  greatest  of 
tragic  heroes,  Heracles)  and  sword,  in  the  masculine  pose 
of  a  resting  athlete. 

Passing  to  the  other  side  of  the  octagon,  we  see  (besides 

^  The  head  was  found  in  Hadrian's  Villa  :  it  does  not  belong 
to  the  statue. 


XII.]      THE  RIGHT  BANK  OF  THE  TIBER        283 

520,  already  mentioned)  Terpsichore  (517),  the  Muse  of 
individual  lyric  poetry  such  as  that  of  Sappho  and  Alcaeus, 
playing  on  the  instrument  used  by  that  school  of  poets — 
the  "  lyre "  properly  so-called,  with  the  shell  of  a  tortoise 
for  its  sounding-board,  as  distinguished  from  the  cithara 
which  we  see  in  the  hand  of  Apollo  and  also  in  that  of 
(511)  Erato,  the  Muse  of  choral  lyrics  such  as  those  of 
Pindar,  which  needed  a  choir  of  singers  and  dancers  for 
their  performance.  It  is  unfortunate  that  neither  of  these 
statues  has  the  original  head.  Lastly,  between  Apollo  and 
Erato  is  (515)  Calliope,  the  Muse  of  epic  poetry,  with  stilus 
and  tablets  (the  head  again  does  not  belong). 

It  is  not  easy  to  determine  the  period  to  which  the  group 
belongs.  It  has  been  ascribed  to  the  school  of  Praxiteles — 
possibly  to  the  sons  of  that  master  :  but  this  seems  unlikely. 
The  differentiation  of  the  several  Muses — who  in  classical 
times  were  conceived  simply  as  a  group  of  nine  sisters 
practising  the  "  musical "  arts  of  song,  dance,  and  poetical 
composition — can  hardly  have  taken  place  until  well  within 
the  Hellenistic  period.  Moreover,  the  statues  are  not 
uniform  in  style,  but  are  derived  from  originals  created  by 
diverse  schools  ;  and  the  heads  are  of  the  graceful  but 
somewhat  expressionless  type  employed  by  Neo-Attic 
sculptors.  The  originals  were  evidently  of  bronze,  and  the 
group  may  perhaps  be  attributed  to  a  certain  Polycles,  who 
worked  in  Rome  in  the  latter  part  of  the  second  century  B.C. 

Let  us  now  turn  to  the  portrait-herms.  To  the  L.  we 
see  (509)  a  portrait  of  Metrodorus,  with  which  compare 
498,  his  master  Epicurus  :  we  have  seen  the  two  on  a  double 
herm  in  the  Capitoline  Museum  (p.  119).  507  is  an  inscribed 
bust  of  Antisthenes,  the  pupil  of  Socrates  and  founder  of 
the  Cynic  school — one  of  the  earliest  triumphs  of  realistic 
portraiture,  and  at  the  same  time  a  fine  characterisation  of 
the  philosopher  who  preached  contempt  of  all  luxuries  and 
conventions.  506  is  a  good  portrait  of  Demosthenes ; 
see  p.  326,  and  compare  with  it  502,  which,  as  its  inscrip- 
tion tells  us,  represents  his  great  rival  /Eschines.  500  is 
commonly  known  as  Zeno,  but  wears  no  resemblance  to  the 


284        THE  RIGHT  BANK  OF  THE  TIBER      [xii. 

bust  inscribed  with  his  name  at  Naples  :  it  has  been  sug- 
gested that  the  upward  gaze  betokens  an  astronomer. 

Opposite  we  have  (510)  a  herm  with  the  inscription  Alci 
[biades] — so  it  is  usually  restored— on  which  has  been  set 
in  modern  times  a  head  of  the  second  century  a.d.  ;  and  512 
has,  on  account  of  the  closed  eyes,  been  called  by  the  name 
of  Epimenides,  the  Cretan  priest  and  prophet  who  was 
said  to  have  slept  for  forty  years.  Others  believe  that  it  is 
an  early  embodiment  of  the  ideal  conception  of  Homer. 
The  original  was  of  the  fifth  century  B.C.  514  is  Socrates, 
518  an  Athenian  general  of  the  time  of  the  Peloponnesian 
war  (it  may  possibly  be  Alcibiades),  519  (which  bears  the 
modern  inscription  "  Zeno ")  is  Plato  —  most  probably 
derived  from  a  bronze  original  by  the  Attic  sculptor 
Silanion,  and  very  different  from  the  conception  which  we 
should  naturally  form  of  the  great  mystic  who  was  also  so 
charming  a  dramatist  and  story-teller.  521  is  Euripides 
much  restored. 

In  the  further  ante-room  notice  two  portraits  of  Sophocles 
— on  the  R.  (496)  in  his  old  age,  identified  by  comparison 
with  an  inscribed  bust  which  we  shall  presently  see,  on  the 
L.  (492)  as  we  know  him  from  the  statue  in  the  Lateran 
p.  235),  which  was  recognised  as  Sophocles  by  means  of  the 
(fragmentary)  inscription  on  this  bust.  494  (r.)  is  an  un- 
known portrait ;  490  (l.)  is  commonly  called  Diogenes. 
Note  the  reliefs  let  into  the  wall— 489  (l.)  a  pyrrhiche,  or 
dance  in  armour,  imitated  for  decorative  purposes  from  an 
Attic  original,  and  493  (R.),  which  represents  the  birth  of 
Dionysus  from  the  thigh  of  Zeus  :  the  child  is  stretching 
out  his  hand  to  Hermes,  who  is  about  to  wrap  him  in  a 
panther  skin.  The  three  female  figures  may  be  Fates, 
Graces,  or  merely  Nymphs. 

We  now  enter  the  Sala  degli  Animali,  which  contains 
a  collection  of  animal  sculptures  made  by  order  of  Pius 
VII  :  some  are  frankly  modern,  such  as  (135)  the  lobster 
in  green  granite,  and  nearly  all  are  much  restored. 

The  hall  is  divided  into  two  parts  by  the  passage  flanked 
by  columns  of  grey  granite  which  leads  to  the  Cortile  del 


XII.]      THE  RIGHT  BANK  OF  THE  TIBER        285 

Belvedere.  The  passage  is  paved  with  a  mosaic  from  the 
Forum  of  Prceneste  (Palestrina),  and  in  the  middle  of  the 
wings  are  mosaics  with  still-life  subjects  from  the  ancient 
villa  at  Roma  Vecchia. 

In  the  right-hand  section  (proceeding  from  R.  to  L.)  notice 
(182)  the  head  of  a  braying  ass,  (194)  a  sow  with  a  litter  of 
twelve  pigs,  perhaps  representing  the  omen  which  greeted 
yEneas  on  his  landing  in  Italy,  although  the  litter  in  that 
case  numbered  thirty  ;  then  (202)  a  camel's  head,  used  as 
the  spout  of  a  fountain.  208  represents  the  combat  of 
Heracles  with  the  three-headed  monster  Geryon,  whose 
cattle  the  hero  carried  off :  it  belongs  to  a  series  of  groups 
representing  the  labours  of  Heracles  of  which  three 
others  are  here  preserved,  213  (Cerberus),  141  (the 
Erymanthian  boar),  and  137  (the  horses  of  Diomedes  the 
Thracian).  They  are  quite  late  in  date  (probably  of  the 
late  Antonine  period),  but  the  figure  of  Heracles  is  derived 
from  fifth-century  models.  214  is  a  fragment  of  a  land- 
scape-relief very  similar  to  that  with  the  Satyr-child  in 
the  Lateran  (p.  232).  219  and  223  (from  Hadrian's  Villa)  are 
restored  as  peacock  and  peahen  ;  probably  both  were  males. 
228,  a  Sea-Centaur  carrying  off  a  Nereid,  stands  almost 
alone  amongst  ancient  works — so  much  so,  that  its  genuine- 
ness has  been  doubted.  It  resembles  modern  groups  of 
the  so-called  "  rococo "  style  :  yet  it  is  certainly  antique 
and  once  decorated  a  fountain,  so  that  the  Centaur  appeared 
to  be  riding  on  real  waves.  We  hear  of  a  Greek  artist 
named  Arcesilaus  who  worked  for  Julius  Caesar,  and  made 
just  such  groups  as  this  ;  it  may  actually  be  his  work. 
232  is  the  upper  part  of  a  Minotaur,  represented  in  combat 
with  Theseus.  We  saw  a  somewhat  better  replica  in  the 
Museo  delle  Terme.  The  original  group  was  of  bronze, 
and  early  in  date.  233  is  quite  wrongly  restored  ;  the  slave 
should  be  milking  a  cow. 

On  the  left-hand  of  the  entrance  (proceeding  from  L.  to 
R.)  notice  (172)  the  head  of  an  ass  which — as  the  ivy- wreath 
shows — was  taking  part  in  a  Bacchic  procession  with  evi- 
dent delight.     Further  on  are  two  reliefs  in  the  sides  of  the 


286        THE  RIGHT  BANK  OF  THE  TIBER      [xii. 

window  which  deserve  notice.  158  shows  Cupid  driving  a 
pair  of  boars  :  similar  reliefs  are  known  with  gazelles  and 
dromedaries  filling  the  place  of  the  boars.  This  was  found 
in  Hadrian's  Villa.  Next  to  it  is  157,  one  of  the  so-called 
"  Hellenistic"  reliefs  with  rural  landscapes, found  at  Otricoli 
— a  piece  oi genre  more  suited  to  painting  than  to  sculpture. 
154,  a  leopard,  is  interesting  on  account  of  its  curious 
technique  :  the  body  is  of  Oriental  alabaster,  with  inlays  of 
nero  antico  and  giallo  antico.  153,  a  young  shepherd 
taking  his  siesta— conceived  in  the  spirit  of  the  Theocritean 
idyll— is  a  graceful  example  of  garden-decoration  such  as 
was  found  in  the  peristyles  of  Roman  houses.  139,  an 
equestrian  statuette,  has  been  erroneously  thought  to 
represent  Commodus  :  it  is,  however,  a  work  of  the  Anto- 
nine  period.  138  is  a  repHca  of  the  Young  Centaur  in  the 
Capitoline  Museum  (p.  121)  ;  the  Love-God  perched  on 
his  back  is  largely,  but  rightly,  restored,  and  makes  the 
motive  of  the  statue  clear.  If  the  hare  is  also  a  correct 
restoration  (which  is  more  doubtful),  we  may  suppose 
that  Eros  is  suggesting  to  the  Centaur  that  he  shall  present 
it  to  his  lady-love. 

Turning  the  corner,  we  see  to  R.  (124)  a  smoothly  executed 
example  of  the  group  of  Mithras  the  Bull-slayer,  discussed 
on  p.  234 ;  in  the  wall  behind  this  are  inserted  two  landscapes 
in  mosaic  (113A,  125 a)  from  Hadrian's  Villa,  which  are 
among  the  best  of  their  kind.  Finally  notice  116,  a  small, 
finely-carved  group  of  two  greyhounds,  found  with  117  and 
other  animal  figures  (including  a  similar  group  in  the 
British  Museum)  in  the  remains  of  the  so-called  "  Villa  of 
Antoninus  Pius  "  at  Civitd  Lavigna. 

We  now  pass  through  the  doorway  by  the  statue  of  the 
Young  Centaur  into  the  Qalleria  delle  Statue.  Turning 
to  the  L.  we  see  by  the  end  wall  a  reclining  figure  of  the 
sleeping  Ariadne,  long  famous  under  the  name  of  Cleo- 
patra, which  was  given  to  it  when  it  was  brought  to  the 
Vatican  in  1512  ^  on  account  of  the  bracelet  in  the  form  of  a 

^  It  is  not  known  where  it  was  found,  but  as  its  first  owner  had  a 
house  near  the  Arco  della  Ciambella  (p.  172)  it  may  have  stood  in 
the  Baths  of  Agrippa.  Raphael  copied  the  motive  for  one  of  the 
Muses  of  his  Parnassus  in  151 1. 


XII.]      THE  RIGHT  BANK  OF  THE  TIBER        287 

serpent.  That  the  figure  was  well-known  in  antiquity  is 
proved  not  only  by  the  existence  of  replicas,  but  also  by  the 
fact  that  it  was  copied  (with  the  direction  reversed)  by  the 
artist  of  the  relief  on  the  adjoining  wall/  No.  416,  who  repre- 
sented the  legend  in  a  more  complete  form.  Theseus, 
returning  from  Crete  with  Ariadne,  to  whom  he  owed  his 
victory  over  the  Minotaur,  landed  at  Naxos,  and  on  liis 
departure  left  her  sleeping  on  the  shore.  She  awoke  to  find 
herself  surrounded  by  the  train  of  Dionysus,  whose  consort 
she  became.  There  is,  however,  no  ground  for  the  supposi- 
tion that  either  Dionysus  or  Theseus  were  represented  in  a 
group  by  the  artist  of  this  statue.  It  is  probably  an  original 
work  of  the  Hellenistic  period,  perhaps  of  the  later  Per- 
gamene  school — the  relative  simplicity  of  the  head  in  con- 
trast with  the  marvellous  richness  and  refinement  of  the 
drapery  points  in  this  direction. 

The  statue  rests  on  a  sarcophagus  representing  the  battle 
of  the  gods  and  giants — or  rather  the  giants  without  the 
gods,  who  were  perhaps  shown  on  the  lid.  The  artist  was 
inspired  by  a  Pergamene  composition  in  which  the  giants 
were  represented  with  traits  borrowed  from  the  Gauls. 

Let  us  now  turn  to  the  relief  (416)  mentioned  above.  It 
is  reported  to  have  been  found  in  Hadrian's  Villa,  but  evi- 
dently belongs  to  the  same  frieze  as  the  similar  slabs  with 
the  Labours  of  Heracles  in  the  Gabinetto  delle  Maschere, 
which  should  at  once  be  compared  (Nos.  431,  434,  442,  444). 
The  frieze  (which  took  the  place,  in  a  later  and  more 
luxurious  age,  of  such  decorative  terra-cottas  as  we  have  seen 
already,  pp.  148,  220)  represents  a  wall  decorated  with  reliefs 
between  which  are  niches  containing  statues.  It  may  have 
decorated  a  gymnasium,  for  the  walls  of  which  the  adven- 
tures of  Theseus  and  Heracles  would-be  appropriate  sub- 
jects ;  in  442,  moreover,  we  see  the  youthful  Heracles 
instructed  in  the  use  of  the  lyre. 

Above  416  is  a  relief  (415)  representing  a  Roman  sacrifice, 

^  On  the  other  hand,  the  statuette  of  a  nymph  below  this  relief 
(also  inspired  by  the  Ariadne)  is  modern.  * 


288         THE  RIGHT  BANK  OF  THE  TIBER      [xii. 

poor  in  itself,  but  interesting  as  showing  the  influence  of  the 
Ara  Pacis  (note  the  festoons)  and  kindred  works.  (The 
bearded  head  is  due  to  the  restorer.) 

On  either  side  of  the  gallery  we  see  a  marble  candelabrum 
412  ,  413)  on  a  three-sided  base  adorned  with  figures  of 
divinities  (to  R.  Ares  Aphrodite  and  Athena,  to  L.  Zeus, 
Hermes,  and  Hera).  They  were  found  in  Hadrian's  Villa  ; 
doubtless  there  were  originally  four,  representing  the  twelve 
greater  gods  of  the  Olympian  Pantheon.  The  types  of  the 
divinities  all  belong  to  the  latter  half  of  the  fifth  century 
B.C.,  and  the  candelabra  are  fine  examples  of  the  "  classicis- 
tic  "  decorative  art  of  the  Empire. 

By  the  R.  wall  is  (417)  a  statute  of  Hermes,  signed  on  the 
plinth  by  the  copyist  Ingenuus,  the  head  of  which  is  clearly 
derived  from  an  original  of  Myron  or  his  school.  If  this  is 
true  (as  some  think)  of  the  statue  as  a  whole,  we  must 
at  least  regard  the  chlamys  as  a  copyist's  addition. 

The  statue  stands  on  a  cippus  oi  peperino^  bearing  the 
name  of  Tiberius  Caesar,  an  infant  son  of  Germanicus,  which 
was  found  in  the  Campus  Martins,  together  with  those  of 
two  of  his  brothers,  as  well  as  Tiberius  Gemellus  (under 
420),  the  grandson  of  Tiberius  executed  by  Caligula,  and 
Livilla,  the  daughter  of  Germanicus,  whose  death  was  com- 
passed by  Messalina  (under  410),  and  one  bearing  only 
the  word  "  Vespasiani,"  perhaps  that  of  Vespasian's  wife 
(under  407) ;  the  urn  of  Oriental  alabaster  (420A)  in  the 
centre  of  the  gallery  may  have  contained  the  ashes  of 
Livilla. 

The  torso  419,  in  spite  of  its  soft  modelling,  probably 
represents  Apollo  rather  than  Dionysus  :  next  to  it  is  (420) 
an  Imperial  statue  wearing  a  corselet  adorned  with 
chasings  which  represent  Victory  between  trophies  symboli- 
cal of  East  and  West,  and  the  Earth-goddess  looking  up  in 
gratitude  to  the  harbinger  of  peace.  It  is  a  fine  Augustan 
work,  and  deserves  to  be  compared  with  that  of  the  Augustus 
of  Prima  Porta  (p.  322).  The  head  is  a  portrait  of  Lucius 
Verus  :  notice  the  characteristic  rendering  of  the  hair  as  a 
mass  of  curls,  calculated  for  the  play  of  light  and  shade 


XII.]      THE  RIGHT  BANK  OF  THE  TIBER        289 

(also  the  fact  that  the  top  of  the  head  is  made  of  a  separate 
piece  of  marble). 

Passing  the  entrance  of  the  Sala  degli  Animali,  we  come 
to  (248)  a  somewhat  similar  statue,  found  together  with  the 
last  near  Civita  Vecchia,  but  with  a  less  interesting  corselet, 
representing  the  archaic  "  Palladium  "  or  image  of  Athena 
between  dancing  Victories  ;  the  head  (which  is  of  course 
much  later)  seems  to  represent  Clodius  Albinus,  for  a  time 
co-regent  with  Septimius  Severus  (whom  he  resembles  in 
feature). 

250  is  known  as  the  "  Genius  of  the  Vatican,"  or  as  the 
"Eros  of  Centocelle"  (from  the  place  of  its  discovery)  :  we 
have  seen  a  replica  in  the  Palazzo  dei  Conservatori.  It  is 
obviously  a  work  of  the  Hadrianic  period,  but  not — as  some 
have  thought  —  an  original  created  by  the  Neo-Hellenic 
school  of  that  time,  being  clearly  copied  from  a  bronze 
of  the  fourth  century  B.C.,  though  not  (as  has  been  conjec- 
tured) the  famous  "  Eros  of  Thespiae,"  by  Praxiteles.  In 
some  copies  (which  are  wingless)  the  L.  hand  holds  an 
inverted  torch,  and  the  figure  is  .  thus  characterised  as 
Thanatos,  the  God  of  Death  ;  but  there  is  no  doubt  that  in 
its  origin  it  represented  Eros,  himself  the  victim  of  the 
passion  which  he  causes  in  others. 

(Notice,  on  the  wall  above,  a  modern  relief  of  the  school 
of  Michelangelo,  which  represents  Cosimo  I,  Grand  Duke  of 
Tuscany,  driving  the  Vices  away  from  Pisa,  and  contrast 
its  style  with  that  of  ancient  works.) 

251  is  a  young  athlete  in  the  manner  of  Polyclitus  (see 
below,  p.  296),  and  the  head  (though  of  different  marble 
from  the  body)  is  in  the  same  style. 

253,  the  figure  of  a  Triton  or  Sea-Centaur,  of  which  we 
see  only  the  human  portion,  is  a  fine  example  of  the 
"pathetic"  school  of  Hellenistic  sculpture.  The  head  has 
been  compared  with  that  of  the  Gaul  in  the  Ludovisi  Col- 
lection (p.  209),  and  on  this  ground  the  Triton  has  been 
assigned  to  Pergamon.  The  torso  of  a  companion-statue  is 
in  the  Galleria  Lapidaria. 

Passing  by  254,  a  Mcenad  or  Nymph,  draped  in  a  style  of 


290        THE  RIGHT  BANK  OF  THE  TIBER      [xii. 

which  we  shall  presently  see  another  example,  we  come  to 
255,  a  seated  statue  of  Paris;  the  restorer  was  probably 
right  in  placing  the  "apple  of  discord"  in  the  R.  hand.  It 
is  often  held  that  the  original  was  a  famous  work  by  Eu- 
phranor,  a  Corinthian  artist  of  the  fourth  century  B.C. ;  but  the 
pose  seems  too  subtly  calculated  for  so  early  a  date.  The 
L.  hand  (restored)  must  have  been  resting  on  the  rocky 
seat.  Whether  the  figure  formed  part  of  a  group  (with 
Hermes  and  the  Goddesses)  or  no,  it  is  very  hard  to  say :  the 
apple  (and  "  Phrygian  "  cap)  make  it  sufficiently  intelligible 
as  it  stands. 

256  is  a  Heracles,  much  after  the  manner  of  the  Hermes, 
No.  407,  which  we  have  just  seen  ;  257  (on  the  wall  above  to 
L.)  a  relief  showing  the  car  of  Selene  (the  Moon)  on  her 
way  to  visit  Endymion  ;  notice  the  crab  with  the  figure  of 
Aphrodite  rising  above  it,  which  points  to  the  connection  of 
the  planet  Venus  with  the  Sign  of  Cancer.  The  relief  is 
a  good  specimen  of  Early  Imperial  work  (after  a  Hellenistic 
model). 

258  is  a  fine,  but  fragmentary,  statue  of  Dionysus,  claimed 
by  some  authorities  as  Praxitelean,  but  others  assigned  to 
the  school  of  Timotheus  (p.  in). 

259  has  been  restored  as  Athena  ;  not  only,  however,  is  the 
head  that  of  an  Apollo  of  the  Phidian  school,  but  the  body  (to 
which  it  does  not  belong)  is  that  of  the  divine  lyre-player ; 
for  it  is  clearly  male,  and  the  clumsy  restoration  of  the  L. 
breast  and  arm  cannot  hide  the  fact,  which  is  patent  when 
pointed  out,  that  the  drapery  on  that  side  was  held  up  by  the 
heavy  cithara  pressed  against  the  L.  side.  The  body  is 
usually  assigned  to  the  later  fourth  century,  but  might  well 
be  as  early  as  400  B.C. 

260  is  a  Votive  relief  dedicated  to  Asklepios  (^sculapius), 
such  as  those  which  we  saw  in  the  Museo  Barracco  :  the 
heads  are  of  course  modern,  but  the  relief  is  interesting 
as  a  good  specimen  of  original  Greek  work,  originally,  no 
doubt,  dedicated  in  the  precinct  of  Asklepios  at  Athens. 

261  is  an  interesting  figure  :  in  order  to  reconstruct  it  we 
must  call  in  the  aid  of  an  unrestored  fragment  of  relief  in 


XII.]       THE  RIGHT  BANK  OF  THE  TIBER       291 

the  Museo  Chiaramonti  (p.  315),  and  a  head  in  the  Museo 
delle  Terme  (p.  203).  Note,  in  the  first  place,  that  the 
original  was  not  a  statue  in  the  round  but  a  relief;  next, 
that  the  restorer  of  this  copy  (who  has  also  given  to  it  the 
head  of  a  Diadumenos^  or  young  athlete  binding  a  fillet 
round  his  head)  has  made  the  seat  a  rock,  instead  of  an 
arm-chair  with  a  wicker  basket  full  of  wool  beside  it.  This 
gives  the  key-note  of  the  composition  :  it  was  designed  for 
the  tomb  of  a  virtuous  housewife,  and  dates  from  the  middle 
of  the  fifth  century  B.C.  Very  soon,  however,  it  came  to  be 
used  to  represent  Penelope  "  longing  for  the  return  of 
Odysseus  ;  and  so  it  was  clearly  interpreted  by  the  Roman 
copyists.  The  fragment  of  relief  on  the  base  represents 
Dionysus  and  Ariadne  on  a*car,  attended  by  Silenus. 

In  the  base  of  262,  an  unimportant  female  portrait  of  the 
second  century  A.D.  is  inserted  a  relief  which  shows  a  gold- 
smith at  work. 

264  is  a  copy  in  marble  of  one  of  the  most  famous  bronzes 
of  Praxiteles — Apollo  Sauroctonos  or  the  **  Lizard- 
slayer.'*  Notice  first  the  pose,  and  compare  it  with  that 
of  the  "  Resting  Satyr "  (406),  by  the  opposite  wall.  The 
leaning  figure — beautiful  as  its  curve  is — became  a  manner- 
ism with  Praxiteles.  Still  more  remarkable  is  the  spirit 
of  the  work.  We  are  very  far  from  the  ideal  Apollo,  em- 
bodying the  purest  conceptions  to  which  Greek  religion 
attained,  which  the  artists  of  the  fifth  century  sought  to 
represent.  This  is  just  a  human  boy,  seeking  to,  spear  the 
lizard  as  it  darts  up  the  trunk  by  a  deft  throw  of  the  dart. 
The  difference  illustrates  the  weakening  of  the  religious 
sense  in  fourth  century  Greece. 

265  is  a  replica  of  the  Amazon  ascribed  to  Phidias  ;  we 
have  seen  another  in  the  Room  of  the  Dying  Gaul  (p.  129). 
The  head,  however,  belongs  not  to  this  type,  but  to  that 
assigned  to  Cresilas.  In  the  base  is  inserted  a  relief  of 
a  seated  philosopher  :  compare  what  was  said  as  to  the 
Anaximander  of  the  Museo  delle  Terme  (p.  202). 

267,  a  drunken  Satyr,  is  a  fountain  figure— the  wineskin 
served  as  a  spout. 


292         THE  RIGHT  BANK  OF  THE  TIBER      [xii. 

268,  found  in  the  Baths  of  Otricoli,  may  have  represented 
a  Roman  Empress  as  Hera  ;  its  present  head  is  a  poor 
copy  of  Praxiteles'  Cnidian  Aphrodite. 

270  was  found  together  with  the  Muses  of  Tivoli,  and  re- 
stored as  Urania  with  stilus  and  globe  :  and  if  we  replace 
the  globe  by  tablets  we  shall  probably  be  right,  for  the 
figure  resembles  a  type  attributed  to  a  Hellenistic  artist 
Philiskos,  whose  Muses  stood  in  the  Porticus  Octavice^ 
though  its  "rococo"  drapery  forbids  us  to  assign  it  to  that 
artist. 

The  seated  portrait-statues  on  either  side  of  the  entrance 
to  the  Sala  dei  Busti  must  be  considered  together;  they 
were  found  in  the  ruins  of  a  circular  hall  on  the  Viminal. 
271  is  inscribed  with  the  name  of  Posidippus,  an  Attic  dra- 
matist of  the  Comedy  of  Manners,  who  lived  in  the  earlier 
part  of  the  third  century  B.C.,  and  succeeded  to  something 
of  the  popularity  of  Menander.  The  companion  figure  (390) 
was  not  unnaturally  supposed  to  be  that  of  Menander  him- 
self, but  his  features,  which  are  now  familiar  to  us  (cf. 
p.  236),  are  quite  different.  The  two  statues  do  not  appear 
to  be  by  the  same  copyist  :  but  both  are  of  Roman  date — 
notice  the  Roman  boots  which  have  taken  the  place  of 
Greek  sandals.  That  of  Posidippus  is,  however,  a  faithful 
reproduction  of  an  excellent  third-century  original :  the  keen 
observer  and  critic  of  human  frailties,  weak  in  physical  con- 
stitution and  saddened  by  experience,  is  admirably  depicted. 
The  so-called  Menander  is  cast  in  a  very  different  mould — 
robust  and  intelligent,  but  lacking  the  refinement  of  the 
Greek  poet.  He  must  surely  be  a  Roman  writer,  to  repre- 
sent whom  the  artist  has  borrowed  a  well-known  Greek 
type  used  for  portrait-figures.  We  have  seen  it  put  to  a 
somewhat  different  use  in  the  statue  in  the  Villa  Borg- 
hese  (p.  194). 

We  now  enter  the  Sala  dei  Busti,  which  was  once  a 
chapel  dedicated  to  St.  John  the  Baptist  and  decorated 
with  frescoes  by  Montegna,  of  which  a  few  figures  (painted 
over)  remain  on  the  upper  part  of  the  walls. 

Turn  to  the  R.  and  examine  the  busts  on  shelves.     In  the 


XII.]       THE  RIGHT  BANK  OF  THE  TIBER       293 

lower  row  we  have  (283)  Hadrian,  (282)  Trajan,  (281)  Nerva 
—a  modern  forgery  ;  (280)  Titus  :  then  (279)  a  forbidding 
personage  of  the  late  Republic.  278  has  been  called  Otho, 
but  the  resemblance  to  his  coins  is  vague.  277  is  thought 
to  be  an  idealisation  of  Nero  under  the  form  of  Apollo,  276 
is  a  nameless  head  of  Julio-Claudian  date.  275  is  clearly  a 
Greek,  not  a  Roman  portrait ;  the  diadem  with  a  medallion 
indicates  the  priest  of  a  divinity,  and  the  vine-leaves  point 
to  Dionysus.  The  most  probable  supposition  is  that  it 
represents  a  priest  attached  to  the  worship  of  some  Hellenis- 
tic king  who  assumed  the  style  of  "the  New  Dionysus." 
274  ^  Augustus,  with  the  crown  of  wheat-ears  proper  to 
the  Arval  Brotherhood  (p.  201),  and  273  (one  of  the  most 
famous  of  ancient  busts)  represents  him  in  early  life.  It  is 
extremely  similar  to  a  well-known  head  in  the  British 
Museum,  and  doubtless  derived  from  the  same  original. 
This  example  was  found  at  Ostia,  and  from  its  smoothness 
of  execution  has  been  conjectured  to  be  of  Hadrianic  date  : 
but  it  may  well  be  a  product,  of  the  chill  classicism  of  the 
Augustan  age.  The  "cool  head  and  unfeeling  heart"  of 
iVugustus  are  perfectly  characterised.  272,  if  it  represents 
Julius  Csesar,  is  at  least  a  copy  of  Trajanic  date,  as  is  shown 
by  the  form  of  the  bust  (cf.  pp.  37,  313). 

In  the  upper  row  the  first  four  heads  (l,  to  R.)  represent 
Antoninus  Pius,  M.  Aurelius,  L.  Verus,  and  Commodus. 
The  next  head  (288)  is  (on  very  dubious  authority)  said  to 
have  represented  Didius  Julianus,  the  elderly  senator  who 
bought  the  Empire  when  it  was  put  up  to  auction  by  the 
praetorian  guards.  Next  comes  a  nameless  Greek  philoso- 
pher, then  (290)  a  replica  of  the  portrait  of  a  personage  of 
Hadrian's  court  which  we  saw  in  the  Capitol  with  the 
signature  of  Zenas  the  Younger  (p.  114).  291  is  Septimius 
Severus,  292  a  good  portrait  of  the  savage  Caracalla,  293  a 
military  commander  of  the  Antonine  age. 

Crossing  to  the  R.  of  the  entrance,  notice  388,  two  half- 
length  figures  from  a  Roman  grave-monument,  popularly 
known  as  "Cato  and  Porcia,"  and  chosen  by  the  his- 
torian Niebuhr  as  the  model   for  his  own   monument   at 


294        THE  RIGHT  BANK  OF  THE  TIBER     [xii. 

Bonn.  The  style  of  the  woman's  hairdress,  and  the  fashion 
in  which  the  man's  toga  is  worn,  point  to  the  age  of  Augus- 
tus ;  but  the  spirit  is  that  of  Repubhcan  art,  which  con- 
tinued to  manifest  itself  beside  the  higher  classicism  of  the 
time.  On  the  shelf  above  are  three  portraits,  one  of 
a  Greek  philosopher,  the  others  dating  from  the  Early 
Empire. 

Between  the  windows  notice  on  the  lower  shelf  a  porphyry 
bust  of  a  Roman  prince  of  the  early  third  century  between 
two  anatomical  studies,  one  of  the  thorax  itself,  the  other  of 
its  contents  :  these  were  votive  offerings  made  for  sick 
persons.  The  heads  above  are  unimportant,  as  are  thoee  on 
the  shelves  next  the  R.  window  (377  is  are  pretty  girl's  head, 
wrongly  named  I  sis). 

In  the  centre  of  this  room  is  (389)  a  column  with  three 
figures  of  the  Hours  worked  on  it  in  high  relief — an  elegant 
piece  of  work  of  Augustan  date  ;  the  types  are  borrowed 
from  Attic  art  of  about  400  B.C.  Notice,  too,  on  a  spiral 
column  of  black  marble,  a  colossal  Satyr's  head  in  7'osso 
antico,  which  resembles  the  work  of  Damophon,  mentioned 
on  p.  no. 

Amongst  the  fragments,  torsi^  etc.  on  the  floor  of  this 
room  some  are  important  as  belonging  to  replicas  of  the 
famous  group  of  Menelaus  with  the  dead  Patroclus  dis- 
cussed in  connection  with  the  Pasquino  (p.  172).  At  least 
two,  possibly  three,  copies  are  represented  by  fragments  in 
this  and  the  next  room,  and  two  were  once  in  Hadrian's 
Villa.  The  head  of  Menelaus  (311)  in  the  next  room  is 
interesting  on  account  of  its  fairly  good  preservation  (it  is 
restored  in  many  details) — notice  the  decoration  of  the 
helmet  :  but  it  is  not  nearly  as  fine  a  piece  of  work  as  two 
of  the  fragments — 384B  and  384D — in  this  room.  The  for- 
mer (on  a  pedestal)  gives  us  the  legs  of  Patroclus,  the  latter 
(on  the  ground)  his  shoulder,  with  a  bleeding  wound  :  they 
belonged  to  a  first-rate  copy.  Notice  (for  comparison)  384A, 
the  remains  of  a  similar  group  representing  Gauls,  copied  no 
doubt  from  the  work  of  a  Pergamene  artist  who  borrowed 
the  motive  of  the  more  famous  work. 


xil]      the  right  bank  OF  THE  TIBER       295 

Passing  into  the  next  bay,  we  see  several  Roman  por- 
traits on  shelves  to  the  L.— in  the  corner,  below  (371)  is 
Julia  Mammaea,  mother  of  Alexander  Severus,  above  (366)  a 
good  Republican  portrait-head.  Notice  a  fine  Greek  head 
of  a  bearded  man  (probably  from  a  tomb-relief)  mounted  on 
a  medallion  (364). 

363  (lower  bracket)  is  a  good  copy  from  a  type  of  Hera 
(probably)  belonging  to  the  school  of  Phidias — it  resembles 
heads  on  the  Parthenon  frieze  :  362  (above)  a  poor  head  of 
Heracles  after  Lysippus.  Amongst  the  heads  on  the 
shelves  notice  358,  an  orator  of  the  age  of  Cicero,  next  to 
(357)  Antinous.  360  is  a  Flavian  portrait,  359  Sabina,  wife 
of  Hadrian. 

352  is  a  statue  of  a  woman  in  an  attitude  of  prayer — we 
hear  of  such  "  adorantes  "  by  Euphranor,  and  other  famous 
sculptors — with  features  which,  though  much  restored,  may 
be  those  of  Livia,  the  wife  of  Augustus  (it  was  found  with  a 
statue  of  that  Emperor,  now  in  the  Sala  a  Croce  Greca,  in 
the  Basilica  at  Otricoli). 

Below  is  a  curious  relief  (354)  of  very  poor  workmanship, 
showing  the  creation  of  mankind,  represented  by  puppets, 
and  a  female  "  soul  "  with  butterfly  wings.  Prometheus  is 
seated  on  the  R.,  and  is  approached  by  Mercury  and  the 
three  Fates. 

351  (the  bust  on  the  upper  bracket),  with  its  tangled  locks, 
bears  a  family  likeness  to  the  "  Mark  Antony  "  of  the  Braccio 
Nuovo  (p.  328). 

Amongst  the  heads  on  the  shelves  which  follow,  notice 
the  young  Caracalla  (347 — 7iot  a  son  of  M.  Aurelius)  and 
a  third-century  prince  (345). 

On  the  opposite  side  notice  in  the  lower  row  (311)  the 
head  of  Menelaus  already  mentioned,  (310)  head  of  a 
Greek  warrior  of  Pergamene  style  (309),  portrait  of  a 
Greek  orator,  somewhat  resembling  Lysias,  (308)  Isis, 
(307)  Kronos  (identified  by  the  Romans  with  Saturn),  and 
306,  a  female  portrait  of  Flavian  date. 

In  the  upper  row  (R.  to  L.)  are  some  unimportant  heads,  then 
a  bust  of  Sarapis  in  black  basalt  (cf.  p.  277),  next  to  it  the 


296        THE  RIGHT  BANK  OF  THE  TIBER     [xil. 

head  of  an  African  youth.  301  is  Julia  Mamm^ea  (from 
Otricoli),  302  a  good  portrait  of  Augustan  date. 

In  the  centre  of  the  room  is  a  richly  decorated  marble 
base  with  reliefs  on  its  four  faces.  On  the  broad  sides  we 
have,  firstly,  a  copy  of  a  well-known  composition  (best  pre- 
served in  a  replica  at  Naples— there  is  a  fragment  of  another 
in  the  Museo  Chiaramonti)  which  represents  the  bearded 
Dionysus  and  his  train  paying  a  visit  to  a  victorious  poet, 
and  secondly,  a  group  of  two  winged  Loves  (Eros  and  Ante- 
ros)  burning  a  butterfly,  which  symbolises  the  soul,  and  on 
either  side  of  them  Centaurs — one  male,  with  a  Satyr  on  his 
back,  the  other  female,  with  a  Maenad  about  to  alight.  On 
the  shorter  sides  are  rustic  scenes.  It  is  hard  to  say  what 
was  its  original  destination. 

Passing  into  the  last  bay,  notice  on  the  shelves  to  L.  in 
the  lower  row  (338)  a  fine  original  portrait  of  the  period  of 
the  Diadochi  (Alexander  the  Great's  immediate  successors  : 
possibly  Demetrius  Poliorcetes).  The  horns  indicate  that  he 
was  worshipped  as  a  "  New  Dionysus."  335  (of  the  time  of 
Trajan)  is  the  best  of  the  female  heads. 

In  the  upper  row  (l.  to  R.)  331  is  mediiEval,  330  Augustus, 
329  a  colossal  head  of  a  barbarian,  perhaps  from  the 
Arch  of  Constantine,  327  a  Flamen  wearing  the  apex. 

Opposite,  notice  in  the  upper  row  (313)  the  head  of  an 
actor  wearing  a  female  mask  ;  in  the  lower  row  (319)  a  head 
of  Isis,  with  a  diadem  of  serpents  and  a  crescent,  (321)  an 
aged  Satyr  with  porcine  features. 

The  seated  statue  of  Zeus  (copied  from  a  bronze  original) 
is  a  careful,  but  conventional,  piece  of  work  ;  in  front  of  it 
stands  a  celestial  globe. 

We  now  return  to  the  Galleria  delle  Statue  and  examine 
the  statues,  etc.  by  R.  wall. 

391,  a  seated  Apollo,  would  scarcely  be  worthy  of  notice 
had  it  not  been  wrongly  described  as  a  portrait  of 
Nero;  392  (the  head  of  which  is  a  poor  portrait  of 
Septimius  Severus)  is  a  replica  of  the  Polyclitan  athlete 
No.  251. 

393,  a  maiden,  seated  (as  it  would  seem)  upon  an  altar,  is 


XII.]      THE  RIGHT  BANK  OF  THE  TIBER       297 

a  copy  of  an  interesting  figure  much  better  represented  by 
the  so-called  ♦♦Barberini  Suppliant"  in  the  Palazzo  Bar- 
berini  (which  should  be  carefully  studied).  This  latter 
statue  has  indeed  been  thought  to  be  the  Greek  original 
(which  dated  from  the  fifth  century  B.C.).  Its  R.  handholds 
a  branch,  which  indicates  a  suppliant  ;  but  this  is  the  work 
of  a  restorer,  and  the  meaning  of  the  figure  is  hard  to  deter- 
mine. The  fact  that  only  one  sandal  is  worn  must  be  signifi- 
cant ;  it  was  probably  a  piece  of  religious  ritual. 

Neither  394  (Poseidon)  nor  395  (Apollo — from  an  early 
fifth-century  original)  need  detain  us  ;  but  396  is  a  puzzling 
figure,  commonly  interpreted  as  Narcissus.  It  was  certainly 
executed  in  the  Antonine  period,  and  is  so  tasteless  that  it 
may  conceivably  be  an  original  work  of  that  time.  Passing 
the  reclining  youth  (397)  with  a  head  of  Dionysus,  we  come 
to  (398)  an  Imperial  statue  of  the  early  third  century  A.D. 
conjectured  to  represent  Macrinus,  the  praetorian  prefect 
who  seized  the  reins  of  the  Empire  on  the  death  of  Caracalla 

(A.D.  217). 

399  represents  Asklepios  and  Hygieia ;  it  is  a  poor  copy 
of  a  graceful  group.  400  (wrongly  restored  as  Euterpe)  re- 
produces a  beautiful  fourth-century  type  of  Persephone  ;  the 
R.  hand  should  hold  a  torch,  the  L.  ears  of  corn  and  poppy- 
heads.  401  is  a  fragment  of  the  group  of  the  Niobids,  on 
which  see  p.  327.  A  young  Niobid  is  here  supporting  his 
sister,  who  has  been  shot  down  by  the  arrows  of  the  offended 
gods.  In  the  base  is  inserted  a  curious  relief  showing  the 
facade  of  a  temple,  etc.,  with  an  inscription  of  uncertain 
meaning. 

402  is  a  Roman  portrait-statue  upon  which  has  been 
placed  a  head  of  the  "Pseudo-Seneca"  type  (pp.  35,  216), 
405  a  decorative  figure  intended  for  a  temple-precinct  (in  this 
case  that  of  Fortune  at  Praeneste),  the  basin  serving  as  a 
stoup  for  holy  water.  406,  see  on  No.  264.  407  is  Hermes 
(wrongly  restored  as  Perseus),  408  possibly  a  portrait  of 
Agrippina  the  Younger,  the  mother  of  Nero,  409  a  variation 
on  the  theme  of  the  young  Satyr  with  the  double  flute  which 
we  saw  in  the  Gallery  of  the  Capitoline  Museum,  410  (re- 


598        TME  right  nANiC  OP"  THE  TIBER  .  [xii. 

stored  as  Flora)  a  careful  but  lifeless  copy  of  a  fourth- 
century  type. 

Let  us  now  enter  the  Qabinetto  delle  Maschere,  notic- 
ing on  the  passage- wall  (421)  an  early  Greek  grave= relief 
representing  a  youth  forced  by  a  small  boy  holding  an  oil- 
flask.  The  high,  narrow  tombstone  was  crowned  by  a 
decorative  palmette.  Although  it  is  not  a  work  of  the  high- 
est art,  its  freshness  and  spontaneity  are  startling  in  their 
contrast  with  the  conventional  Roman  copies  by  which  it  is 
surrounded.  Compare  it,  for  instance,  with  the  grave-statue 
of  a  girl  of  the  Flavian  period  (423)  on  the  L.  of  the  entrance, 
copied  from  a  Hellenistic  type  of -A.rtemis. 

The  "  Gabinetto "  takes  its  name  from  the  Mosaics  let 
into  the  floor,  which  were  found  in  Hadrian's  Villa  ;  three 
of  them  show  masks  and  dramatic  properties,  the  fourth  a 
landscape.  The  border,  with  arabesques  and  the  heraldic 
emblems  of  Pius  VI,  is  modern. 

By  the  R.  wall  notice  first  (425)  a  Nymph  or  Mnenad 
belonging  to  the  school  which  produced  No.  254  (in  the 
Galleria) ;  these  artists  were  specially  interested  in  the 
effect  of  wind  on  drapery,  and  flourished  towards  the  end 
of  the  fifth  century  B.C. 

Let  us  now  examine  the  five  statues  of  Aphrodite 
in  this  room.  429,  indeed,  represents  not  the  goddess 
herself,  but  Sabina,  the  wife  of  Hadrian  ;  but  the  type 
is  that  wrongly  called  the  "  Venus  Genetrix "  (from  a 
mistaken  idea  that  Cyssar  placed  an  example  thereof 
in  the  temple  which  he  built  to  his  divine  ances- 
tress), and  often  (but  equally  wrongly)  identified  with 
the  "Aphrodite  in  the  Gardens"  of  Alcamenes,  the 
pupil  of  Phidias.  It  is,  however,  a  creation  of  an 
Attic  school  contemporary  with  that  to  which  we  owe 
No.  425.  Note  that  the  under-garment  covering  the  L. 
breast  was  added  by  the  Roman  artist  because  he  was  por- 
traying an  Empress.  436,  a  reduction  of  the  Cnidian  Aphro- 
dite of  Praxiteles  (see  p.  274)  is  only  worthy  of  mention  as 
illustrating  the  lowest  depths  to  which  the  copyist  of  a  great 
work  can  descend.      We  then  come  to  three  Hellenistic 


XII.]      THE  RIGHT  BANK  OP  THE  TlBEk       299 

types.  427  is  the  most  interesting,  since  we  know  the  name 
of  the  artist— Doedalsas  the  Bithynian,  who  Hved  in  the  first 
half  of  the  third  century  B.C.  The  original  was  brought  to 
Rome  and  placed  in  the  temple  of  Jupiter  in  the  Porticus 
Octavise.  Probably,  however,  this  is  not  a  direct  copy  of 
Dcedalsas'  work,  but  of  one  of  the  variations  on  the  same 
theme  to  which  it  gave  rise.  The  "  Vdnus  accroupie ''  of  the 
Louvre  is  a  better  representative  of  the  original  conception. 
The  half-Greek,  half-barbarian  sculptor  was  a  master  in  the 
rendering  of  the  nude,  but  his  work  lies  quite  outside  the 
province  of  religious  sculpture  (unhke  that  of  Praxiteles) ; 
and  the  same  is  true,  although  in  a  lesser  degree,  of  Nos. 
433  and  441.  The  first  represents  the  goddess  drying  her 
hair  after  the  bath  :  the  motive  may  be  traced  to  that  of 
the  Polyclitan  Diadumenos  and  like  statues,  but  it  is  modi- 
fied so  that  the  composition  no  longer  presents  a  flat,  relief- 
like surface  to  the  spectator,  but  has  the  full  roundness  of 
actuality.  The  contrast  between  the  nude  torso  and  the 
draped  lower  limbs  is  effective.  441  is  a  replica  of  a  much 
finer  statue  at  Syracuse  ;  this  latter  is  headless,  but  the 
shape  of  the  neck  (and  the  evidence  of  a  poor  copy  at  Carls- 
ruhe)  show  that  the  goddess  was  looking  to  the  L.,  not  to  the 
R.  (this  head  is  modern).  Moreover,  the  R.  arm  should  be 
restored  much  as  the  L.  arm  is  in  this  case,  while  the  L. 
hand  should  hold  up  the  drapery  by  the  knot.  The  arms, 
therefore,  when  rightly  restored,  place  the  statue  in  the 
series  to  which  the  "  Medici  Venus  "  at  Florence  and  that 
of  the  Capitol  (p.  11 1)  belong  :  but  the  drapery  which  they 
lack  enhances  the  artistic  effect. 

Of  the  other  statues,  432  is  the  replica  of  the  Red 
Satyr  in  the  Capitoline  Museum  mentioned  on  p.  126; 
both  were  probably  the  work  of  the  school  of  copyists 
from  Aphrodisias ;  while  443  is  a  fourth-century  type 
of  Apollo  (which  should  hold  laurel-branch  in  R.,  bow 
in  L.)  often  attributed  to  the  Corinthian  Euphranor. 

The  reliefs  from  an  architectural  frieze,  (431,  etc.)  have 
already  been  mentioned  (p.  287).  Notice  the  four  grave- 
altars  or  cippi  (under  425,  429,  433,  441)  which  are  good 


300        THE  RIGHT  BANK  OF  THE  TIBER     [xii. 

examples  of  a  school  of  decorative  work  which  flourished 
under  the  Early  Empire.  441A  is  that  of  a  freedman  whose 
patron  was  consul  in  1 1  B.C.  The  chair  in  rosso  antico  was 
probably  used  for  a  vapour  bath. 

The  Loggia  Scoperta,  adjoining  the  Gabinetto  delle 
Maschere,  is  closed.  It  has  a  fine  view,  and  contains  some 
reliefs  and  busts  of  no  great  importance. 

Returning  to  the  Sala  degli  Animali,  we  turn  to  the  L. 
and  pass  into  the  Cortile  del  Belvedere.  The  inner 
arcade  and  corner  cabinets  are  additions  to  the  original 
plan.  Beside  the  entrance  are  (64,  65)  two  hounds,  which 
have  been  supposed  to  be  from  bronze  originals  by  Lysippus 
(cf.  the  wounded  dog  in  the  Museo  Barracco,  p.  188). 
Turning  to  the  R.  we  see  a  sarcophagus  with  a  battle  of 
Greeks  and  Amazons,  upon  which  is  placed  a  badly- 
weathered  Greek  bust  inscribed  with  the  name  of 
Sophocles  and  for  that  reason  of  great  value,  since  it 
has  enabled  us  to  identify  other  heads  of  the  poet.  Above, 
on  the  wall,  a  late  sarcophagus  with  architectural  back- 
ground and  family  groups.  Further  to  R.,  on  a  child's 
sarcophagus,  {'j'^  a  sleeping  figure  fantastically  restored 
with  a  snake  encircling  the  arm,  originally  belonging  to 
the  lid  of  a  sarcophagus. 

We  now  enter  the  cabinet  of  the  Laocoon,  and  find  our- 
selves in  presence  of  one  of  the  most  famous  works  of 
ancient  sculpture — amongst  the  very  few  originals  of  world- 
wide celebrity  in  their  day  which  have  been  preserved  to  us. 
Pliny  the  Elder,  in  his  Natural  History^  tells  us  that  it  stood 
in  his  day  in  "  the  house  of  the  Emperor  Titus  "  ;  and  it  came 
to  light  in  1506  near  the  Sette  Sale  (p.  227),  i.e.  on  part 
of  the  site  once  occupied  by  Nero's  Golden  House,  and 
doubtless  reserved  for  themselves  by  the  Flavian  emperors. 
He  further  tells  us  the  names  of  the  artists — Agesander, 
Polydorus,  and  Athenodorus  the  Rhodians— who  carved  the 
group  "  by  consultation,"  as  he  quaintly  puts  it.  This  is, 
however,  doubtless  part  of  the  cicerone's  patter,  like  the 
further  statement  that  it  was  made  of  one  block  of  marble- 
there  are  in  reality  four.      Recent  discoveries  in  Rhodes 


XII.]       THE  RIGHT  BANK  OF  THE  TIBER        301 

itself  have  brought  to  Hght  inscriptions  showing  that  the 
artists  named  by  Pliny  lived  in  the  first  century  B.C.;  proba- 
bly Agesander  was  the  father,  the  others  his  sons.  The 
group  must  be  dated  50-40  B.C.;  and  the  production  of 
so  great  a  masterpiece  at  a  time  when  Greek  art  was  fast 
falling  under  the  spell  of  academic  classicism  is  a  re- 
markable proof  of  the  vitality  of  the  Rhodian  school. 

Laocoon  was  priest  of  Apollo  at  Troy  (in  Vergil's  well- 
known  story  he  is  priest  of  Neptune,  but  the  bay-wreath 
here  is  decisive),  and  for  an  old  offence  against  the  god  was 
visited  with  the  punishment  here  depicted.  Two  snakes 
attacked  and  slew  him  and  his  sons  as  they  were  ministering 
at  the  altar.  We  must  not  forget  that  the  scene  so  vividly 
presented,  which  to  us  is  only  redeemed  from  horror  by  its 
artistic  beauty,  filled  the  ancient  spectator  with  religious 
awe,  inspired  by  the  late,  but  unfailing,  vengeance  of  the 
offended  god.  Moreover,  the  tragic  significance  of  the 
group  would  be  immediately  grasped,  while  the  modern 
traveller  to  whom  the  myth  has  to  be  explained,  finds  the 
group  deficient  in  adequate  motive. 

Artistically  speaking,  the  defects  of  the  Laocoon  are 
patent.  It  is  true  that  the  R.  arm  of  the  father  is  wrongly 
restored  :  an  arm  from  a  copy  on  a  somewhat  reduced  scale 
(discovered  in  1906)  is  placed  beside  the  original,  and  shows 
that  it  ought  to  be  bent  towards  his  head.  This  gives  the 
group  the  triangular  form  which  Hellenistic  artists  preferred: 
but  it  is  too  obviously  calculated  for  a  single  point  of  view 
(it  stood,  no  doubt,  in  a  niche).  Such  flat,  relief-like  compo- 
sition in  a  single  plane  of  vision  can  only  be  attained  by 
some  sacrifice  of  naturalism.  Again,  it  has  often  been 
pointed  out  that  the  sons  of  Laocoon  have  not  the  forms  of 
boys,  but  of  small  men.  Indeed,  the  figures  of  the  boys  are 
entirely  dwarfed  by  comparison  with  that  of  Laocoon — a 
masterpiece,  both  of  anatomical  detail,  in  which  modern 
science  has  only  been  able  to  find  one  trifling  error,  and  (in 
the  head)  of  agonised  expression.^     As  such  it  can  scarcely 

^  It  is,  of  course,  inconceivable  that  (even  in  the  ancient  world) 
such  a  figure  could  have  been  made  from  a  living  model. 


302         THE  RIGHT  BANK  OF  THE  THJER      [xii. 

be  paralleled  :  but  the  well-known  type  of  Homer  (p.  ii8) 
has  been  conjectured  to  be  a  work  of  the  same  school. 

Travellers  who  visit  Florence  should  compare  the  copy 
(in  the  Uffizi)  made  by  Baccio  Bandinelli  in  1520  for  Leo  X, 
who  had  been  compelled  by  Francis  I  of  France  to  promise 
him  "the  Laocoon"  as  a  gift.  The  copy  never  reached 
Paris,  and  the  original  only  in  1797  ! 

The  statues,  sarcophagi,  etc.,  which  follow  are  not  import- 
ant till  we  come  to  81,  a  slab  from  one  of  the  processional 
friezes  of  the  Ara  Pacis  AugustiE  (p.  204).  As,  however,  the 
heads  in  the  front  row  are  restored,  it  helps  us  but  little  to 
appreciate  the  style  of  these  figures  ;  for  this  we  must  visit 
Florence.  Lictors  (in  front)  and  priests  attended  by  camilli 
are  here  shown. 

Next  observe  a  grave-altar  (84)  sustaining  a  block  of 
variegated  alabaster,  with  the  seated  figure  of  the  deceased 
in  high  relief.     It  is  a  good  piece  of  Flavian  work. 

The  statue  of  Hygieia  (85)  in  the  following  niche  is  de- 
rived from  a  graceful  fourth-century  work ;  the  head  is 
a  fifth-century  type.  In  front  of  it  (87A)  is  an  altar  bearing 
the  name  of  one  Ti.  Claudius  Faventinus,  and  dedicated  (in  all 
probability)  to  Mars  and  Venus  :  it  belongs  to  a  class  of  which 
we  have  seen  an  example  from  Ostia  in  the  MuseodelleTerme. 
Mars  and  Venus  are  themselves  represented  beneath  the  . 
inscription,  with  the  chariot  of  the  Sun  and  a  figure  of  Vul-I 
can  (the  husband  of  Venus)  above.  On  two  sides  are 
scenes  from  the  tale  of  Troy  in  bands  of  relief,  beginning 
with  the  Judgment  of  Paris  ;  on  the  other  (as  on  the  altar 
from  Ostia)  the  legend  of  Rome's  beginnings  is  depicted 
(Mars  and  Rhea  Silvia,  the  twins,  the  wolf  and  the  shep- 
herds). The  style  of  lettering  and  reliefs  forbids  us  to 
identify  Faventinus  with  the  officer  who  transferred  the 
allegiance  of  the  fleet  at  Misenum  from  Vitellius  to  Vespa- 
sian. The  altar  is  of  second-century  date.  It  is  instructive 
to  compare  it  with  that  upon  which  it  stands,  a  good  speci- 
men of  Augustan  work,  though  much  damaged.  On  the  side 
towards  the  court  we  see  an  apotheosis — probably  that  of 
Julius  Caesar,  the  witnesses  of  the  event  being  Augustus  and 


XII.]       THE  RIGHT  BANK  OF  THE  TIBER       303 

Livia  with  her  sons  ;  and  on  the  opposite  front  Victory  bear- 
ing a  shield  on  which  is  inscribed  the  dedication  of  the 
altar  to  Augustus  by  senate  and  people.  On  the  narrow 
ends  we  have  the  omen  of  the  sow  which  greeted  ^neas  on 
his  landing  in  Italy,  and  the  dedication  by  Augustus  of  two 
figures  of  Lares  (cf.  p.  137).  A  relief  (88)  representing 
a  triumphal  car  preceded  by  Roma  and  a  group  of  soldiers 
seems  to  be  of  the  time  of  Domitian  ;  in  style  it  stands 
midway  between  the  Arch  of  Titus  and  Trajanic  sculptures. 
We  next  pass  into  the  cabinet  of  the  Apollo,  once  the 
most  admired  of  ancient  statues,  but  long  since  dethroned 
from  its  proud  position  since  we  have  come  to  know  what 
the  original  work  of  the  Greeks  was  like.  First  of  all,  notice 
that  the  heavy  garment  (which  would,  of  course,  slip  off  the 
L.  forearm  if  worn  as  it  is  here)  is  an  addition  of  the  copyist 
n  marble  :  the  original  was  of  bronze,  and  in  this  material 
the  extended  L.  arm  needed  no  support.  Next,  observe  that 
Apollo  is  neither  standing  nor  walking  :  his  feet,  it  is  true, 
are  touching  the  earth,  but  the  gliding  motion  of  the  body  is 
almost  that  of  flight,  and  we  must  think  of  him  as  sustained 
by  his  divine  power.  The  R.  hand  (badly  restored)  should 
hold  a  laurel-branch,  the  L.  a  bow  (there  is  a  small  bronze 
rephca  in  the  Stroganoff  collection  at  St.  Petersburg  which 
appears  to  hold  an  regis  with  Medusa's  head  in  the  L.,  but  its 
genuineness  is  disputed).  The  meaning  of  the  figure  can- 
not be  mistaken — the  god  has  by  his  sudden  appearing  dis- 
comfited the  powers  of  darkness.  The  conception  is  a  fine 
one,  and  the  historical  occasion  is  not  far  to  seek — the 
threatened  sack  of  Delphi  by  the  Gauls  in  278  B.C.,  which 
was  averted  (as  the  story  ran)  by  the  intervention  of  Apollo 
in  person.  Many  high  authorities  have  indeed  abandoned 
this  view,  and  hold  the  statue  to  represent  a  work  of  Leo- 
chares,  an  Attic  artist  who  worked  on  the  Mausoleum  :  we 
shall  see  a  copy  of  his  Ganymede  presently.  But  the  figure 
transcends  the  limits  which  fourth-century  sculpture  ob- 
served, and  aims  at  a  kind  of  effect  unknown  before  the 
Hellenistic  period.  The  original  must  have  been  a  splendid 
work,  deserving  most,  though  not  all,  of  the  admiration  once 


304         THE  RIGHT  BANK  OF  THE  TIBER     [xii. 

lavished  upon  this  statue  ;  even  the  copyist  (who  lived  in  the 
second  century  A.D.),  utterly  uninspired  and  lifeless  as  his 
work  is,  has  not  wholly  emptied  it  of  its  dignity  and 
grandeur. 

The  Apollo  was  found  towards  the  end  of  the  fifteenth 
century,  we  know  not  where,  and  brought  to  the  Vatican  by 
Giuliano  della  Rovere  (who  was  already  its  owner)  when  he 
became  Julius  II. 

93  is  part  of  a  sarcophagus  of  the  Antonine  age,  with 
hunting  scenes,  94  a  copy  of  a  Greek  relief  inspired  by  the 
balustrade  of  the  Temple  of  Athena  Nike  at  Athens. 

Over  the  doorway,  outside  the  cabinet,  notice  an  elegant 
frieze  showing  the  train  of  Bacchus — clearly  a  Hellenistic 
composition. 

On  the  E.  side  of  the  Cortile  there  is  little  to  notice.  98 
and  27,  decorated  with  griffins  and  Satyrs  in  low  relief,  are 
the  two  halves  of  a  table-support  {irapezophorus) ;  in  the 
original  design  the  Satyrs  were  endeavouring  to  push  each 
other  away  from  the  drinking-bowl.  28,  an  oval  sarcophagus, 
has  for  its  decoration  an  effective  composition  of  dancing 
Satyrs  and  Maenads,  skilfully  put  together  from  well-known 
types.  On  the  porphyry  column  (loi)  stands  a  bust  of  Nerva  ; 
it  is  difficult  to  say  whether  it  is  ancient  or  modern.  The 
sleeping  Nymph  (30)  rests  on  the  sarcophagus  of  Sex 
Varius  Marcellus,  father  of  the  Emperor  Heliogabalus. 

We  now  enter  the  cabinet  which  contains  the  works  of 
Canova,  which  were  placed  in  the  Belvedere  in  181 1,  when 
the  Apollo  and  the  Laocoon  were  in  Paris.  The  Perseus, 
holding  the  head  of  Medusa  in  his  outstretched  L.  arm,  is 
an  obvious  imitation  of  the  Apollo  :  the  boxers,  Damoxenus 
and  Creugas,  need  a  word  of  explanation.  According  to 
the  story  told  by  Pausanias,  Damoxenus  slew  his  adversary 
by  a  foul  blow,  and  was  therefore  deprived  of  the  crown  of 
victory  by  the  judges.  Canova  has  endeavoured  to  hint  at 
this  by  representing  Damoxenus  as  a  low,  brutal  type. 
Nothing  can  help  us  better  to  appreciate  the  gulf  which 
separates  ancient  from  modern  sculpture  than  to  compare 
these  works  with  those  which  they  replaced.     The  Apollo  is 


XII.]      THE  RIGHT  BANK  OF  THE  TIBER        305 

dramatic  :  the  Perseus  melodramatic.  The  Laocoon  is  awe- 
inspiring  :  the  boxers  repulsive.  With  all  the  resources  of 
modern  anatomy,  Canova  could  not  produce  the  impres- 
sion of  living  flesh  which  the  seeing  eye  of  the  (jreek  enabled 
him  to  convey. 

On  the  N.  side  of  the  Cortile,  notice  (39)  a  second-century 
sarcophagus  representing  a  Roman  commander  to  whom 
barbarian  captives  are  being  brought ;  on  the  narrow  ends 
are  groups  from  a  triumphal  procession  (captives  driven  or 
carried)  in  low  relief.  It  belongs  to  the  same  class  as  that 
which  we  saw  in  the  Museo  delle  Terme. 

Above  it  is  (38)  a  relief  showing  a  battle  of  gods  and 
giants.  We  have  seen  other  portions  of  this  frieze  in  the 
Lateran  (p.  239)  and  the  Antiquarium  (p.  254).  There  is 
some  reason  for  thinking  that  it  may  have  come  from  the 
Temple  of  Tellus  (the  earth-goddess,  mother  of  the  giants) 
not  far  from  S.  Pietro  in  Vincoli. 

The  statue  of  "Venus  Felix"  (42)  in  the  niche  has  a  por- 
trait head,  and  may  have  represented  Faustina  the  younger, 
wife  of  M.  Aurelius.  It  was  long  supposed  to  be  a  portrait 
of  Sallustia  Barbia  Orbiana,  wife  of  Severus  Alexander,  but 
cannot  be  as  late.  The  type  is  one  derived  by  late  art  from 
the  Cnidian  Aphrodite  of  Praxiteles,  with  the  addition  of  the 
figure  of  Eros. 

43,  a  Dionysiac  sarcophagus  pieced  together  from  many 
fragments,  was  found  in  the  Catacomb  of  S.  Calixtus, 
and  shows  how  such  pagan  works  were  employed  in 
Christian  cemeteries. 

A  medallion  portrait  (of  some  Greek  literary  man)  on  the 
column  45A  belongs  to  a  class  of  works  used  for  the  decora- 
tion of  ancient  libraries.  48,  a  late  sarcophagus,  with  a 
doorway  in  the  centre,  represents  husband  and  wife  with 
masks  at  their  feet  and  Muses  at  their  side  ;  they  evidently 
had  literary  tastes. 
^  .  Below  is  (49)  a  sarcophagus  representing  the  battle  of  the 
Greeks  and  Amazons  before  Troy.  In  order  to  emphasise 
the  importance  of  the  central  group — Achilles  and  Penthe- 
silea — the  artist  has   represented  them  on  a  larger  scale 


3o6        THE  RIGHT  BANK  OF  THE  TIBER     [xii. 

than  the  surrounding  figures.     The  busts  of  husband  and  wife 
on  the  lid  date  the  work  unmistakably  to  the  third  century. 

In  the  corner  cabinet  is  (53)  the  so-called  Antinous  of 
the  Belvedere,  really  a  statue  of  Hermes,  which  pre- 
sents some  points  of  similarity  with  the  Hermes  of  Praxiteles 
at  Olympia,  and  was  clearly  inspired  by  a  study  of  that 
artist's  works.  The  style  of  this  copy— and  still  more  that 
of  a  replica  in  the  British  Museum — points  to  an  original  in 
bronze.  The  figure  in  the  British  Museum  wears  winged 
sandals,  and  it  is  possible  that  the  restorer  of  this  statuet 
who  has  spoilt  the  shape  of  the  legs  and  ankles,  may  have 
removed  such  traces  of  them  as  he  found.  Like  a  similar 
figure  found  on  the  Greek  island  of  Andros,  this  statue 
doubtless  had  its  place  in  a  tomb,  and  represented  either 
Hermes  the  Conductor  of  Souls,  or  the  departed  under  the 
guise  of  the  divinity  :  hence  the  expression  of  melancholy 
which  caused  the  name  of  Antinous  to  be  given  to  it.  The 
original  can  hardly  have  been  later  than  the  close  of  the 
fourth  century  B.C. 

55  is  a  relief,  executed  by  a  Roman  artist  of  Hadrian's 
time,  in  a  conventional  style  reminiscent  of  Egyptian  art, 
which  represents  a  procession  in  honour  of  Isis. 

56,  a  wretched  copy  of  a  statue  of  Priapus,  the  god  of 
gardens  and  fertility,  is  only  interesting  from  its  subject. 

On  the  wall  above  58  (a  reclining  grave-statue  of  Flavian 
date)  is  a  much  damaged,  but  interesting  relief,  of  which 
there  is  a  better  preserved  replica  in  the  Naples  Museum. 
The  seated  figures  are  Aphrodite  and  Helen,  who  is 
listening  to  the  persuasive  entreaties  of  the  goddess  on 
behalf  of  Paris  (the  figure  seated  on  the  pillar  behind  her  is 
that  of  Peitho,  the  goddess  of  persuasion).  Paris  in  his 
turn  is  accompanied  by  the  winged  Love-God  ;  and  behind 
him  the  statue  of  the  Amycla^an  Apollo  indicates  the  scene 
of  the  action  (near  Sparta).  The  group  of  Paris  and  Eros 
is  reproduced  on  Attic  vases  which  are  hardly  later  in  date 
than  400  B.C.,  and  there  is  much  to  be  said  for  the  view 
that  the  orignal  composition  was  a  painting  of  the  fifth 
century  B.C. 


XII.]       THE  RIGHT  BANK  OF  THE  TIBER       307 

On  the  small  sarcophagus  (61)  stands  a  fragment  worthy 
of  attention,  which  represents  a  Nereid  riding  on  a  hippo- 
camp  :  as  it  is  made  of  Italian  marble,  it  must  be  a  copy 
(but  a  very  good  one),  from  a  decorative  Hellenistic  original. 
The  statues  which  stand  in  the  open  court — mostly  female 
portraits  of  late  date — need  not  detain  us.  They  often 
reproduce  motives  of  drapery  derived  from  Greek  art,  but  in 
so  degraded  a  form  as  to  lose  all  their  beauty. 

We  now  pass  into  the  Vestibule  (entrance  opposite  to  the 
Sala  degli  Animali),  in  which  is  a  fine  basin  oti panonazzetto 
and  one  or  two  good  torsi  (7  a  seated  female  figure,  probably 
Aphrodite,  5  from  a  replica  of  the  statue  restored  as  Com- 
modus  in  the  Braccio  Nuovo,  p.  322).  Notice,  too,  an 
inscribed  Cippiis  (under  No.  7)  with  the  figure  of  a  Diadu- 
inenos  taken  from  the  famous  statue  of  Polyclitus.  On  the 
balcony,  from  which  there  is  a  fine  view,  is  an  ancient 
vane. 

Turning  first  to  the  L.  we  find  ourselves  in  front  of  the 
statue  of  Meleager ;  we  have  seen  a  much  finer  replica  of 
the  head  in  the  Villa  Medici.  The  L.  arm  once  held  a 
spear,  and  this,  together  with  the  dog,  and  above  all  the 
boar's  head,  leave  us  no  doubt  as  to  the  meaning  of  the 
figure.  The  boar's  head  however,  is,  probably,  the  drapery 
certainly,  a  copyist's  addition  :  some,  indeed,  think  that  the 
figure  was  originally  intended  as  a  nameless  hunter.  The 
head  is  clearly  in  the  style  of  Scopas :  the  statue  may  bear 
the  same  relation  to  the  master's  work  as  the  so-called 
Antinous  does  to  that  of  Praxiteles.  The  copy  is  a  lifeless 
one  and  has  suffered  from  modern  polishing. 

The  curious  torso  (11)  enwrapped  with  a  network  of 
woollen  fillets  represented  a  prophet  (or  even  Apollo  himself). 
18  is  a  female  figure  with  a  musical  instrument  like  a 
zither  in  her  lap.  21  is  a  fine  head  of  Trajan,  found 
in  the  harbour  which  he  caused  to  be  dug  at  Ostia.  It 
stands  on  a  block  with  reliefs  on  two  sides  which  evidently 
formed  the  corner  of  a  frieze.  On  the  front  is  represented  a 
Roman  warship  manned  by  fully-armed  marines  and 
bearing  the  ensign  of  the  Crocodile.     This  has  given  rise 


3o8        THE  RIGHT  BANK  OF  THE  TIBER     [xii. 

to  the  supposition  that  the  monument  to  which  the  frieze 
belonged  (it  was  found  in  the  sanctuary  of  Fortune  at 
Prieneste)  may  have  been  set  up  in  commemoration  of  the 
battle  of  Actium  ;  the  style  would  be  consistent  with  such  a 
date.  The  details  are  accurately  rendered.  Above,  on  the 
wall,  is  a  singular  relief  from  a  large  sarcophagus  which 
represents  a  harbour,  with  ships,  swimmers,  etc.,  and  the 
surrounding  buildings.  The  human  population  is  figured  on 
a  small  scale  ;  the  larger  figures  are  those  of  divinities  (the 
heads  of  two  are  roughly  blocked  out,  so  that  if  required 
they  could  be  turned  into  portraits).  The  interpretation  of 
these  figures  is  difiicult,  but  the  two  principal  ones  seem  to 
be  Dionysus  and  Ariadne.  The  figures  in  front  of  the 
temples  are  those  of  the  divinities  worshipped  therein.  We 
cannot  identify  the  harbour  :  the  old  view  that  it  was  that  of 
Carthage,  with  Dido  and  yEneas,  cannot  be  maintained. 

Proceeding  in  the  opposite  direction,  we  come  to  the 
Atrio  quadrato,  which  contains  (3)  the  famous  Torso  of  the 
Belvedere,  signed  by  the  Greek  artist  "  Apollonius  the  son 
of  Nestor  the  Athenian"  in  characters  which  point  to 
the  last  century  B.C.  Apollonius,  if  a  copyist,  was  a 
copyist  of  no  mean  order  ;  and  it  is  very  likely  that  his 
work— even  if  inspired  by  that  of  earlier  masters — is  an 
original.  The  interpretation  and  restoration  of  the  torso 
present  an  unsolved  and  perhaps  insoluble  problem.  If  the 
skin  which  covers  the  rocky  seat  and  the  head  laid  on  the 
L.  thigh  are  those  of  a  lion,  then  the  subject  is  of  course 
Heracles :  and  if  so,  he  was  most  probably  playing  the  lyre, 
which  was  supported  on  the  L.  leg  ;  or  he  may  have  been 
resting  both  hands  on  the  end  of  his  club.  Many  authorities, 
however,  hold  that  the  skin  is  that  of  a  panther :  the  statue 
is  then  interpreted  either  as  Polyphemus,  who  is  shading 
his  eyes  with  his  L.  hand  and  gazing  at  Galatea  (a  far-fetched 
notion),  or  Prometheus  modelling  the  first  man  in  clay. 
The  rendering  of  bodily  form  in  very  different  from  that 
of  the  Laocoon,  probably  a  contemporary  work,  and  the 
two  are  worth  comparing.  The  Rhodian  group  (or  at  least 
its  central  figure)  is  eminent  in  its  accuracy  of  detail :  the 


XII.]      THE  RIGHT  BANK  OF  THE  TIBER       309 

torso  is  treated  in  the  ideal  style  which  the  artist  had 
doubtless  learnt  to  admire  in  the  Parthenon  sculptures. 
The  masses  of  flesh  and  muscle  are  broadly  indicated  without 
insistence  on  detail — note  that  veins  and  sinews  are  omitted  ; 
but  we  feel  that  the  artist,  though  he  has  achieved  great 
things  within  his  self-imposed  limits,  is  an  imitator  rather 
than  a  creator,  and  as  such  is  scarcely  worth  of  the  ex- 
travagant admiration  which  Michelangelo^  Winckelmann, 
and  many  others  have  lavished  upon  the  torso — an  admiration 
which,  had  they  lived  to  see  the  very  handiwork  of  Attic 
sculptors,  they  would  have  reserved  for  them  alone. 

In  the  niche  to  the  R.  of  the  torso  is  the  Sarcophagus  of 
Scipio  Barbatus,  found  in  the  tomb  of  the  Scipios,  whence 
come  also  the  inscriptions  by  which  it  is  surrounded,  and 
the  head  (like  the  sarcophagus,  oi  peperind)  which  stands 
upon  it.  The  sarcophagus  is  in  the  form  of  an  altar,  decorated 
with  simple  architectural  forms  (frieze  of  triglyphs  and 
metopes,  etc.).  The  epitaph  is  in  Saturnian  verse — the  native 
form  of  Italian  poetry,  based  not  on  quantity,  but  on  accent. 
Its  meaning  is  as  follows  : — "  CorneHus  Lucius  Scipio  Bar- 
batus ("  the  bearded  "),  the  son  of  his  father  Gnasus,  a  man 
brave  and  wise,  whose  outward  form  was  matched  by  his 
inward  virtues,  who  was  consul,  censor,  and  aedile  amongst 
you  [i.e.  the  Roman  people],  captured  Taurasia  and  Cisauna 
in  Samnium,  subdued  all  Lucania  and  carried  off  hostages.'' 
It  is  not  likely,  however,  that  these  verses  were  written  until 
long  after  the  death  of  Scipio.  On  the  cover  of  the  sarco- 
phagus are  faint  traces  of  the  original  inscription,  painted  in 
redjbut  not  engraved ;  this  only  gave  the  titles  of  the  deceased. 
Again,  the  Latin  of  this  inscription  is  demonstrably  later  in 
its  forms  than  that  of  another  referring  to  the  son  of  Scipio 
Barbatus  (who  was  consul  in  B.C.  298).  The  great  fame  of 
the  family  (and  probably  also  the  inscription)  dates  from  the 
Hannibalic  war.  Now  look  at  the  head  which  stands  on 
the  sarcophagus,  that  of  a  youth  wearing  a  wreath  of  laurel. 
It  has  been  thought  to  represent  the  poet  Ennius,  who  sang 
the  praises  of  Scipio  Africanus  and  had  his  statue  in  the 
tomb  of  the  family,  as  we  learn  from  Cicero  ;  but  that  was 


3IO        THE  RIGHT  BANK  OF  THE  TIBER     [xii. 

of  marble  (and  may  therefore  have  been  placed  there  at  a 
later  time).  The  bay-wreath  seems  to  point  to  a  priest  of 
Apollo,  and  in  point  of  fact  one  of  the  inscriptions  mentions 
a  Scipio  who  attained  the  dignity  of  a  decemvir  sacris 
faciundis  or  Keeper  of  the  Sibylline  Books— a  priesthood 
attached  to  the  service  of  the  Delphic  god.  He  Hved  in  the 
middle  and  latter  paft  of  the  second  century  B.C.,  when  we 
know  \S\2X peperino  was  used  in  Rome  for  statuary  (cf.  p.  256), 
and  may  be  the  person  represented. 

The  reclining  female  figure  (of  the  Antonine  period)  is 
from  the  lid  of  a  sarcophagus  which  faithfully  reproduces 
the  shape  of  a  low  wooden  couch  with  bronze  plates  at  the 
corners. 

We  now  descend  a  flight  of  steps  to  the  long  gallery  of  the 
Museo  Chiaramonti,  arranged  for  Pius  VII  by  Canova. 
It  contains  more  than  seven  hundred  pieces  of  sculpture, 
which  vary  greatly  in  merit,  not  many  being  of  the  first  rate 
importance.  There  are  thirty  compartments,  which  will  be 
described  in  succession  ;  the  numbering  begins  at  the  further 
end. 

Compartment  XXX,  On  the  L.  is  a  herm  (734)  bearing 
the  name  of  Solon  :  the  head  placed  on  it  is,  however,  a  poor 
portrait  of  Epicurus.  On  the  wall  (733)  a  cast  of  the  relief 
with  three  female  figures  which  we  saw  in  the  Museo  delle 
Terme  (p.  202),  in  which  has  been  inserted  a  fragment  of  the 
central  figure  belonging  to  the  same  group. 

Compartment  XXIX.  To  the  L.,  in  the  lower  row,  noticej 
(705)  a  statuette  of  Odysseus  carrying  a  wine-cup  which  he  is| 
about  to  present  to  Polyphemus— part  of  a  Hellenistic  group. 
We  saw  the  corresponding  figure  of  Polyphemus  in  the 
Museo  Capitolino  (p.  106).  702  is  Antoninus  Pius,  699  possibly 
the  young  Emperor  Gordian  III  (a.d.  238-44),  698  probably 
Cicero,  although  not  very  close  in  its  resemblance  to  the 
Capitoline  bust  (p.  1 19)  ;  in  the  upper  row,  693  is  a  copy  of  the 
Heracles  of  Scopas. 

Opposite,  notice  (708)  a  fragmentary  relief  which  shows 
a  young  Satyr  turning  round  to  inspect  the  growth  of  hi^ 
tail ;  by  its  means  we  are  able  to  interpret  and  restore  th< 


XII.]      THE  RIGHT  BANK  OF  THE  TIBER       311 

statues  which  represent  the  same  subject  (cf.  p.  202).  The 
heads  in  the  upper  row  are  unimportant  ;  in  the  lower  row 
notice  (719)  a  copy  from  a  first-rate  Greek  portrait ;  725  is 
not  quite  so  good. 

Compartment  XXVIII.  To  L.  683  is  a  statue  of  Hygieia 
(with  a  cast  of  the  head  of  the  "  Calliope  "  in  the  Sala  delle 
Muse^,  once  grouped  with  Asklepios,  as  the  remams  of  his 
arm  show.  682  bears  a  fine  head  of  Antoninus  Pius.  686 
(to  R.)  may  be  mentioned,  since  it  was  supposed  to  represent 
the  Vestal  Tuccia,  who  proved  her  innocence  by  carrying 
water  from  the  Tiber  in  a  sieve|;  but  the  sieve  in  this  case 
is  the  work  of  a  restorer. 

Compartment  XXVII.  Notice  to  L.  on  the  wall,  two 
fragments  (642,  644)  of  relief  belonging  to  two  panels,  on 
each  of  which  are  three  maidenly  figures  ;  other  portions 
of  the  same  panels  have  been  -identified  at  Florence  and 
Munich.  On  644  the  maidens  are  Goddesses  of  the  Dew, 
worshipped  at  Athens  under  the  names  of  Aglauros, 
Pandrosos,  and  Herse  ;  all  that  is  left  of  the  third  figure 
is  the  R.  hand  with  the  pitcher,  from  which  the  dew  is 
streaming.  642  belongs  to  a  slab  on  which  the  Hours 
were  represented,  dancing  hand  in  hand.  The  originals 
were  of  the  fourth  century.  Notice,  too,  643,  which  is 
earlier  in  style  (it  is  copied  from  a  fifth-century  relief),  and 
shows  us  the  earth-goddess  giving  the  child  of  Hephaestus, 
Erichthonius,  one  of  the  primitive  divinities  of  Athens,  into 
the  care  of  Athena.  Amongst  the  heads,  etc.,  on  the  shelves, 
notice  652,  a  replica  of  the  head  of  the  Old  Centaur  of  the 
Capitol.  It  wears  a  wreath  of  vine-leaves,  but  this  is  an 
addition  of  the  copyist  (just  as  the  sculptor  of  a  copy  in 
Berlin  added  an  ivy-wreath).  653A  has  been  thought  to 
be  a  portrait  of  Antonia,  the  daughter  of  Mark  Antony  and 
mother  of  Claudius.  655  represents  Narcissus  looking  at 
his  reflection  in  the  water.  Opposite,  notice  on  the  upper 
shelf  667,  copied  from  a  good  Greek  portrait,  and  669,  a 
small  head  of  Aphrodite,  believed  by  some  to  be  a  piece 
of  original  Greek  work  ;  in  the  lower  row  (671)  a  herm  of 
the  bearded  Dionysus — the  type  is  now  thought  to  have 


312         THE  RIGHT  BANK  OF  THE  TIBER     [xii. 

been  the  creation  of  Alcamenes,  the  pupil  of  Phidias,  and 
to  have  been  in  origin  intended  as  "  Hermes  before  the 
Gate,"  on  the  strength  of  an  inscription  found  at  Pergamon. 
674  is  supposed  to  be  a  portrait  of  Severus  Alexander. 

Compartment  XXV J.  To  L.  the  Imperial  statue  (635) 
bears  the  head  of  a  third-century  prince,  who  has  been 
conjecturally  identified  as  Philip  junior,  son  of  Philip  the 
Arabian  (a.d.  244-7)  \  ii^  any  case  it  illustrates  the  brutal, 
barbaric  type  of  the  emperors  of  that  time.  636  represents 
Heracles  with  his  little  child  Telephus,  the  son  of  Auge 
exposed  by  her  father  on  the  Arcadian  mountains  and 
reared  by  a  doe.  It  cannot  fail  to  strike  the  observer  that 
Heracles  is  paying  no  attention  to  his  long-lost  son  ;  the 
fact  is  that  the  figure  of  the  child  is  an  addition  made  by  the 
sculptors  of  Pergamon,  where  Telephus  reigned  as  king 
according  to  the  local  myth.  The  original  type  seems  to 
date  from  the  fourth  century  :  it  has  been  attributed — on 
very  insufficient  grounds — to  Praxiteles. 

Opposite  is  (639)  a  statue  characteristic  of  the  later 
Imperial  period.  The  portrait-head  represents  (probably) 
Julia  Soasmias,  the  mother  of  Heliogabalus  ;  the  body  is  a 
variant  of  an  Aphrodite  type,  which  we  have  just  seen  in 
the  Gabinetto  delle  Maschere.  638,  on  the  other  hand, 
is  a  fine  piece  of  work — a  Greek  original,  which  it  is  in- 
structive to  compare  with  the  wretched  statue  beside  it. 
It  represents  a  maiden  flying  from  her  pursuer — the  motive 
challenges  comparison  with  those  of  the  Niobid  group,  but 
this  is  earlier  in  date. 

Compartment  XXV.  To  the  L.  596  is  a  fragment  of  the 
composition  (Dionysus  visiting  a  poet)  which  we  saw  on 
the  base  in  the  Sala  dei  Busti  (p.  296).  593  and  594  are  Greek 
work,  but  of  inferior  merit.  Among  the  heads  notice  598, 
a  Greek  philosopher ;  600,  Augustus  (early  in  his  reign) ;  602, 
a  Roman  of  the  Republic  ;  605,  a  Greek — doubtless  a 
writer — of  the  time  of  Trajan,  as  is  shown  by  the  form  of 
the  bust  (p.  yj)  ;  607,  a  fine  head  of  Poseidon  (from  a 
Hellenistic  original  in  bronze),  embodying  a  characteristic 
ideal  of  the  Sea-God. 


XII.]      THE  RIGHT  BANK  OF  THE  TIBER       313 

Opposite,  619  is  a  good  female  portrait  of  the  Early 
Empire;  620,  an  ideal  type  of  the  fifth  century  B.C  ;  621, 
a  Caryatid  ;  624,  possibly  Trajan  as  a  youth  ;  625,  Antinous 
as  Attis ;  628A,  Augustus ;  629,  a  portrait  of  the  early 
third  century  A.D. 

.  Compartment  XXIV.  To  the  L.  591  is  a  statue  of  a  type 
used  for  heroic  figures  with  a  good  head  of  Claudius  (which 
does  not  belong  to  it).  On  the  R.  588  is  a  pasticcio  put 
together  by  a  Roman  copyist  from  two  types  (Dionysus  and 
a  Satyr),  which  have  nothing  to  do  with  each  other,  a  fact 
which  is  painfully  obvious.  587  (Ganymede  and  the  Eagle) 
is  a  dull  copy  of  a  pretty  Hellenistic  creation. 

Compartment  XXIII.  To  L.  on  the  wall  are  two  frag- 
ments of  relief  which  seem  to  be  of  Greek  workmanship. 
549  represents  a  girl  decorating  a  building  ;  551  is  a  seated 
philosopher  like  the  Anaximander  of  the  Museo  delle  Terme 
(p.  202).  On  the  shelves  are  some  good  Roman  portraits. 
554  (upper  row)  represents  Antoninus  Pius  towards  the 
close  of  his  life  ;  555  was  once  called  Pompey,  and  has  more 
recently  been  identified  with  Nerva  ;  it  has  more  claim  to 
be  regarded  as  a  portrait  of  that  Emperor  than  most  of  the 
busts  which  pass  for  such  ;  556  is  of  early  Antonine  date. 
In  the  lower  row,  559  is  a  boy  of  the  time  of  M.  Aurelius  ;  560 
is  a  good  Flavian  portrait ;  561  a  first-rate  one  of  Trajan's 
time — probably  the  best  in^existence  which  dates  from  that 
period.  Notice  particularly  the  form  of  these  two  busts, 
which  enables  us  to  date  them,  as  the  heads  have  never 
been  broken  oflf.  562  represents  the  best  work  of  the  early 
third  century  ;  563  is  a  fine  portrait  of  the  late  Republic. 
Thus  all  periods  of  Roman  portraiture  are  here  repre= 
sented  (except  the  latest),  and  the  traveller  should  pause  to 
study  their  characteristics.  Below  561  is  a  grave-altar  with 
beautiful  Augustan  decoration. 

Opposite  are  (567-569)  three  Mithraic  reliefs.  The  middle 
one  depicts  the  slaying  of  the  bull,  with  busts  of  sun  and 
moon  in  the  upper  corners,  and  torch  -  bearers  (named 
Cautes  and  Cautopates)  at  either  side  ;  these  are  often  found 
on  such  reliefs.     567  represents  Zervan  (Greek  Kronos),  the 


314        THE  RIGHT  BANK  OF  THE  TIBER     [xii. 

divinity  of  Infinite  Time  in  the  Mithraic  religion,  with  a  lion's 
head  and  a  snake  encircling  his  body  ;  568  gives  us  part 
of  the  usual  subject  (note  the  bull's  tail  ending  in  ears  of 
corn)  with  side-scenes,  such  as  we  frequently  see  and  often 
find  it  hard  to  interpret ;  573  (below)  is  a  statuette  of  Zervan. 
The  heads  are  unimportant ;  notice  (580)  the  statuette  of  an 
old  woman  (with  modern  head),  a  Hellenistic  work  ;  the 
fashion  in  which  she  wears  her  cloak  perhaps  points  to 
Egypt,  i.e.  Alexandria. 

Compartment  XXII.  To  L.  543  and  545  are  late  torsi 
made  for  Imperial  statues  in  which  head,  arms,  etc.,  were 
separately  made.  On  543  has  been  set  a  head  copied  from 
a  good  fourth-century  original  ;  on  545,  a  poor  portrait  of 
Tiberius  ;  544,  Silenus  (very  like  Socrates),  and  a  panther, 
probably  wrongly  restored,  belongs  to  an  early  Hellenistic 
school.  Opposite,  547  is  a  colossal  bust  of  Isis  wearing  the 
Egyptian  headdress  called  calvatica;  it  is  said  to  have  been 
found  in  Hadrian's  villa.  It  can  scarcely  be  called  a  work 
of  art. 

Compartment  XXI.  To  L.  the  fragment  of  a  grave- 
monument  with  figures  of  husband  and  wife  (500)  is  of  the 
Antonine  age  :  contrast  it  with  the  "  Cato  and  Porcia "  of 
the  Sala  dei  Busti.  Amongst  the  heads,  notice  (507)  a  Poly- 
clitan  athlete  head,  and  next  to  it  (508)  a  portrait  of  Men- 
ander.  In  the  lower  row,  509  is  a  poor  copy  of  the 
Meleager,  510A  and  512  two  first'^rate  examples  of  Re- 
publican portraiture,  with  its  unsparing  realism.  511A 
is  a  good  replica  of  the  head  of  the  Hera  Barberini  (No.  546 
in  the  Rotunda).  516c  (below)  is  a  gracefully  decorated 
fragment  of  a  marble  seat. 

Opposite,  531  is  a  portrait  of  an  Attic  general  of  the  fourth 
century  (poor  work).  535  is  the  head  of  a  Qaul  belonging  to 
the  same  group  of  monuments  as  the  Dying  Gaul  of  the 
Capitol  and  the  Gaul  and  his  wife  of  the  Ludovisi  collection ; 
but  it  is  far  more  realistic  than  either  of  those  works. 

Compartment  XX.  On  the  L.,  494  is  a  notable  statue  of 
Tiberius,  found  at  the  ancient  Privernum  (a  country  town  of 
no  great  importance)  which  represents  him  in  his  earlier 


XII.]      THE  RIGHT  BANK  OF  THE  TIBER       315 

years,  idealised  under  the  form  of  Jupiter.  493  is  a  portrait 
of  a  boy  of  the  third  century  A.D.  and  a  good  piece  of  work  for 
its  time.  For  495  compare  the  Eros  in  the  Capitoline  Museum 
p.  108.  Opposite,  notice  497,  a  fragment  of  a  large  sarco- 
phagus, representing  mills  turned  by  horses  ;  there  are  traces 
of  painting,  which  was  used  to  supply  the  missing  part  of 
the  horse  to  the  L. 

Compartment  XIX.  To  L  ,  notice  on  the  upper  shelf  (460) 
a  torso  of  Apollo  in  the  robe  of  the  citharcBdus  for  the  sake 
of  its  technique  ;  the  tunic  is  of  alabaster,  the  girdle  of 
giallo  a7itico^  the  cloak  of  red  and  white  marble.  Below  is 
(465)  the  fragment  of  the  figure  of  "Penelope"  by  which 
we  are  enabled  to  correct  the  restorations  of  the  figure  in 
the  Galleria  delle  Statue.  The  workmanship  is  good.  464 
a  group  of  Mithras  and  the  bull,  is  in  bigio.  The  hound 
(467)  is  a  good  piece  of  work. 

Opposite,  472  (though  a  poor  copy)  represents  an  early 
Greek  original,  probably  of  the  Peloponnesian  school.  475 
is  a  fairly  good  portrait  of  about  the  time  of  Claudius. 

Compartment  XVIII.  449,  a  commonplace  Roman  por- 
trait-figure, is  to  be  noted  as  illustrating  Roman,  not  Greek 
fashion  in  dress.  450  is  much  restored,  but  the  head  is  that 
of  Polyclit'us'  Doryphoros  (p.  321)  and  the  torso  is  Of  the 
same  period.  451  (Aphrodite  or  a  Nymph)  is  a  pretty  fourth- 
century  type  ;  the  herm  is  restored.  453  ('to  R.)  may  have 
been  an  Imperial  statue  ;  the  head  set  thereon  is  Meleager 
(a  bad  copy). 

Compartment  XVII.  On  the  lower  shelf,  observe  (418)  a 
female  portrait  of  the  Early  Empire,  probably  of  a  princess 
of  the  reigning  house,  between  two  charming  busts  of  chil- 
dren (417,  419),  clearly  brothers.  With  them  was  found  423, 
a  still  finer  piece  of  work.  Note  that  Augustan  artists  were 
peculiarly  successful  in  their  portraits  of  children.  420  is 
shown  by  the  close-fitting  cap  to  be  Hephaestus  (Vulcan) ; 
notice  the  want  of  symmetry  between  the  two  sides  of  the 
face.  It  has  been  conjectured  to  be  a  copy  from  Alcamenes, 
the  pupil  of  Phidias.  In  any  case,  it  is  a  finely  characterised 
ideal  of  the  god  of  craftsmen.     422  is  Demosthenes.     424, 


3i6        THE  RIGHT  BANK  OF  THE  TIBER      [xii. 

found  with  the  three  boys'  heads,  is  also  of  Augustan  date,  as 
is  shown  by  the  form  of  the  bust ;  the  short  beard  is,  how- 
ever, not  that  of  a  Roman.  424B  has  been  called  Sulla, 
and  this  is  just  possibly  right :  the  head  seems  to  be  of 
Sulla's  time,  but  to  be  the  work  of  a  Greek  rather  than  of  a 
Roman  artist. 

Opposite,  notice  on  the  upper  shelf  431,  a  head  of  Men- 
ander,  433  and  435,  Roman  Republican  portraits,  on  the 
lower  441  a  conscientious,  if  not  very  lifelike,  copy  of  an 
extreme  fine  Greek  head  often  thought  to  be  a  portrait  of 
Alcibiades.  That  it  dates  from  the  fourth  century  B.C. 
(after  Alcibiades'  death)  is  no  argument  against  this  view  ; 
compare  the  portraits  of  Euripides  and  Sophocles  ("  Lateran" 
type).  But  the  head  is  no  portrait ;  it  is  a  heroic  ideal  type, 
and  one  of  the  finest.  439,  443,  and  the  fragments  below  the 
shelf,  belong  to  a  frieze  with  Erotes  hunting  which  decorated 
a  domed  hall  in  Hadrian's  villa.  There  are  others  in  com- 
partments XV  and  III. 

Compartment  XVI.  The  two  heads  (399  Tiberius,  401 
Augustus)  and  the  seated  statue  of  Tiberius  (400)  were  found 
at  Veii,  and  are  good  and  typical  examples  of  the  academic 
official  art  of  the  Early  Empire. 

Opposite,  notice  403,  a  statue  of  Athena  (with  modern 
head)  not  for  its  artistic  merit,  but  because  the  motive  is 
obviously  borrowed  from  a  type  of  Artemis  which  we  have 
already  seen  (681)  and  shall  see  again  (16),  to  which  it  is 
more  appropriate.  An  example  of  this  type  (supposed  by 
some  to  be  the  original)  found  at  Ephesus  is  in  the  British 
Museum  ;  doubtless,  therefore,  the  Artemis  was  also  dedi- 
cated at  Ephesus. 

Compartment  XV.  To  L.,  notice  360,  a  copy  of  an  archaic 
Greek  relief  (first  half  of  fifth  century  B.C.)  representing  the 
Three  Graces.  The  original  stood  outside  the  Propyla^a 
at  Athens,  and  bore  the  signature  of  an  artist  named 
Socrates.  Hence  arose  a  popular  legend  that  the  relief  was 
the  work  of  the  philosopher— which  is  absurd.  In  spite  of 
all  its  stiffness  and  severity,  we  see  in  it  the  dawning  of  that 
feeling  for  beauty  and  genius  for  composition  which  gave 


XII.]       THE  RIGHT  BANK  OF  THE  TIBER        317 

birth  (within  a  century)  to  such  reliefs  as  that  of  which  we 
saw  a  fragment  in  No.  644.  The  female  head,  No.  363,  be- 
longs to  the  same  period,  but  to  the  Peloponnesian  school. 
364,  an  Antonine  portrait,  illustrates  the  peculiar  treatment 
of  the  hair  by  artists  of  that  time.  366  may  be  Faustina  the 
Younger,  368  is  an  old  lady,  her  contemporary.  369  (lower 
row)  is  of  Augustan  date,  371  of  the  time  of  Hadrian.  372A, 
brought  from  Greece  by  Morosini  (the  Venetian  who  bom- 
barded the  Parthenon)  was  once  supposed  to  be  a  fragment 
of  the  Parthenon  frieze  :  it  is,  however,  made  of  Boeotian 
limestone,  and  was  a  local  work  produced  under  Athenian 
influence,  which  bears  testimony  to  the  diffusion  of  the 
artistic  faculty  in  fifth-century  Greece.  Note  that  the  bridle 
of  the  horse  (now  lost)  was  executed  in  bronze.  374  is  a 
Republican  portrait. 

Opposite,  383  is  a  third-century  empress  (?) ;  387,  wearing 
a  turban,  a  lady  of  Trajan's  time  ;  below,  392,  Hadrian  ; 
393A,  a  princess  of  the  Julio-Claudian  house,  once  richly 
decorated  with  ornaments  in  bronze  (notice  the  holes). 

Compartment  XIV.  352  was  supposed  to  be  Paris,  and 
so  restored  with  the  apple  ;  it  is  really  a  Mithraic  torch- 
bearer  (cf.  No.  567),  executed  in  the  time  of  Hadrian,  but 
adapted  from  fourth-century  types.  The  seated  Nymph 
(353)  was  once  grouped  with  two  Erotes  (notice  their  feet 
on  the  rock) ;  the  quiver  and  bow  belonged  to  one  of  them. 
354  is  a  graceful  and  quite  individual  conception  of  Athena 
(fourth  century,  perhaps  not  Attic)  badly  copied. 

To  R.,  between  two  conventional  portraits  (355,  357)  of 
a  mother  and  daughter  from  an  ancient  villa  at  Tusculum, 
is  a  poor  specimen  of  Trajanic  art— a  Dacian  captive 
(cf.  p.  253). 

Compartment  XUI.  To  L.,  300  is  a  small  fragment  of 
a  shield  decorated  with  a  relief  of  Amazons  in  battle.  It 
belonged  to  a  copy  of  the  Athena  Parthenos  of  Phidias, 
whose  shield  was  thus  adorned.  Of  the  animal  figures  the 
lynx  (313)  and  panther  (315)  are  the  best.  To  R.,  332  might 
be  Marciana,  Trajan's  sister;  341  represents  the  moon- 
goddess. 


3i8         THE  RIGHT  BANK  OF  THE  TIBER      [xii. 

Compartment  XII.  293  is  a  torso  of  the  Doryphoros ; 
294  is  a  curious  Heracles,  which  we  should  attribute 
to  Polyclitus  if  we  had  only  the  torso,  and  (perhaps)  to 
Lysippus  if  we  looked  at  the  head,  so  small  in  proportion. 
The  riddle  is  unsolved.  Opposite,  notice  297,  a  resting 
athlete,  obviously  by  an  imitator  of  Praxiteles  (note  the 
leaning  pose  and  the  attitude  of  the  arm,  like  the  Apollo  in 
the  Capitoline  Museum  (p.  124). 

Compartment  XI.  To  L.,  253  is  a  good  portrait  of  Titus 
256  may  be  an  ideal  portrait  of  a  Greek  poetess  (Corinna 
has  been  suggested),  257  is  a  good  copy  of  a  Greek  athlete 
portrait  of  about  300  B.C.;  in  the  lower  row,  259  is  a  fine 
Republican  head,  261  and  263  are  ladies  of  Trajan's  time 
(the  latter  very  good),  265  a  contemporary  of  Antoninus 
Pius.  Opposite,  285  is  reduced  from  an  archaic  Apollo, 
perhaps  by  Canachus,  a  sculptor  of  Sikyon  in  the  Pelo- 
ponnese,  287  is  a  prettily  conceived  but  poorly  executed 
figure  of  a  sleeping  fisher -boy,  287  a  a  male  ideal  head 
of  the  early  Attic  school  (it  has  been  thought  to  repre- 
sent Erechtheus,  a  mythical  king  of  Athens,  from  a  statue 
by  Myron). 

Compartment  X.  240  may  have  been  a  portrait  of  a  boy- 
prince,  but  its  head  is  a  cast.  242  (with  a  modern  head) 
is  copied  from  an  archaic  bronze  Apollo.  241  (found  at 
Otricoli,  a  moderate  piece  of  work)  is  hard  to  explain  ; 
it  maybe  a  Greek  or  Italian  divinity,  or  possibly  even  Isis 
with  the  child  Horus,  and  so  an  Alexandrian  work.  The 
colossal  head  (244,  to  R.)  of  a  marine  divinity  was  found  in 
Hadrian's  Villa.  The  Muse  (245)  is  a  poor  copy  from  one 
of  the  figures  in  the  group  attributed  to  Philiscus  (p.  292). 

Compartment  IX.  185  represents  a  Lar  on  horseback. 
On  the  lower  shelf  are  female  portraits,  195 A  Antonine,  200 
Hadrianic.  Opposite,  notice  a  fragment  of  relief  from  a 
sarcophagus  (214)  representing  a  picnic.  The  head  (232) 
in  7iero  antico  belongs  to  the  same  class  as  the  "  Scipio  "  of 
the  Capitoline  Museum  (see  p.  118).  Notice  the  two  grave- 
altars,  198  and  230. 

Compartment  VIII.     To  L.,  notice  the  colossal  head  of 


XII.]      THE  RIGHT  BANK  OF  THE  TIBER        319 

Athena,  copied  from  an  Attic  original  by  Phidias.  The 
eyelashes  are  restored  (rightly)  in  bronze,  the  eyes  in 
glass — they  were  made  of  precious  materials. 

Opposite,  the  uppermost  of  the  two  sarcophagi  (179)  can 
be  dated  by  its  inscription  to  the  first  ten  years  of 
M.  Aurelius'  reign  (a.d.  161-170).  The  scenes  represented 
are  from  the  legend  of  Admetus  and  Alcestis — the  wife  in 
Euripides'  tragedy  who  was  rescued  by  Heracles  when 
about  to  die  in  place  of  her  husband  ;  in  the  centre,  Alcestis 
on  a  couch  with  her  mourning  family,  to  R.  Admetus, 
Heracles,  and  Alcestis  (veiled)  at  the  gate  of  Hades  ;  notice 
the  dog  Cerberus,  the  Fates  in  the  background,  and  at  the 
end  Pluto  and  Persephone.  The  figures  to  L.  belong  to  the 
central  scene  (Apollo  with  the  tripod,  etc.).  Note  that 
Admetus  and  his  wife  are  clearly  portraits  of  the  deceased. 
Contrast  the  execution  of  this  sarcophagus  with  that  of  180 
(below  it),  which  belongs  to  the  following  century  (Dionysus 
and  Ariadne,  and  landscapes).  1 8 1  is  the  triple-bodied  Hecate 
— "  Diana  of  the  Crossways." 

Compartment  VH.  To  L.,  on  the  upper  shelf,  notice 
especially  135,  a  fine  and  characteristic  head  from  a  statue 
of  a  Roman  statesman  (not  Caesar,  as  some  have  thought)  of 
the  late  Republic — the  toga  drawn  over  the  head  shows 
that  he  was  sacrificing.  136  is  some  three  centuries  later. 
Below,  141  and  143,  are  of  Hadrian's  time  (note  the  shape 
of  the  busts).  140  is  a  Greek  philosopher.  Of  the  ideal 
heads,  139  reproduces  the  type  of  Heracles  by  Polyclitus, 
144  a  bearded  Dionysus  by  the  fifth-century  artist,  to  whom 
we  owe  the  portrait  of  Pythagoras  in  the  Capitoline  Museum 
(p.  119),     145  most  probably  an  Eleusinian  divinity. 

Opposite,  152  is  a  fragment  of  relief  which  represented 
a  triumphal  procession.  The  spoils  were  carried  on 
stretchers  (as  those  of  Jerusalem  on  the  arch  of  Titus).  In 
the  lower  row,  165  has  been  explained  as  a  barbaric  type, 
but  is  really  a  badly  executed  head  of  Venus  drying  her 
hair  (cf  p.  299).  166  is  a  replica  of  the  head  of  the  charioteer 
in  the  Palazzo  dei  Conservatori. 

Compartment  VI.     To  L.,  120  is  a  Hadrianic  adaptation 


320        THE  RIGHT  BANK  OF  THE  TIBER      [xii. 

of  an  early  Greek  female  type  (found  in  Hadrian's  Villa) 
121  a  poetess  (with  a  head  like  those  of  the  Muses  of 
Tivoli),  122  a  charming  type  of  Artemis  the  Huntress, 
which  has  been  claimed  both  for  Praxiteles  and  Lysippus, 
and  described  as  a  Greek  original.  It  is  later  in  date  than 
either  of  those  artists,  and,  whether  by  a  Greek  artist  or 
not,  is  a  copy  from  bronze.  To  R.  124,  a  late  and  bad  por- 
trait-statue has  the  head  of  some  Claudian  prince  set  upon  it. 

Compartment  V.  To  L.,  on  upper  shelf,  75  is  a  head 
with  the  mask  of  a  comic  actor.  79  a  fragment  of  a  group 
representing  Scylla  and  one  of  the  companions  of  Odysseus 
(cf.  the  Polyphemus  group,  p.  106).  Below,  the  replicas  83 
and  86  (dififerently  restored)  represent  Hygieia.  87  is  a 
graceful  statuette  of  Eros  wearing  the  lion's  skin  of  Heracles 
(from  Hadrian's  Villa).  Opposite,  107  may  be  a  portrait  of 
Julius  Csesar  (unfortunately  the  nose  is  restored  and  the 
face  has  suffered  from  over-cleaning).  114,  the  statuette  of 
a  Roman  boy,  is  of  a  good  period  and  worth  noticing. 

Compartment  IV.  To  L.,  63  (with  a  poor  head  which 
does  not  belong  to  it)  is  derived  from  an  Attic  Athena  of 
the  late  fifth  century  B.C.  There  is  reason  to  think  that  the 
original  was  by  Alcamenes,  the  pupil  of  Phidias,  and  that 
the  L.  hand  rested  on  a  shield  (the  motive  of  the  L.  arm 
in  this  and  other  copies  is  glaringly  inconsistent  with  the 
style  and  date  of  the  original).  Opposite  is  the  entrance  to 
the  Braccio  Nuovo  (busts  of  Augustus  and  Trajan  on  either 
side). 

Compartment  III.  To  L.  contrast  20,  a  fragment  of 
second-century  ornament,  with  22,  obviously  a  Renaissance 
work.  Below,  26  is  Septimius  Severus,  30  Antoninus  Pius, 
35  Titus.  28  is  a  head  (with  an  exaggerated  expression  of 
pain)  belonging  to  the  Amazon  type  which  we  shall  presently 
see  in  the  Braccio  Nuovo.  Opposite,  54  (lower  shelf)  is  a 
good  Flavian  portrait ;  60  may  belong  to  the  same  period. 
The  family  group  below  (60  e),  like  the  "  Cato  and  Porcia," 
represents  the  lower  art  of  the  Early  Empire. 

Compartment  II.  To  L.  14  represents  a  bad  attempt  to 
do  what  the  copyist  of  No.  120  (see  above)  achieved  success- 


XII.]       THE  RIGHT  BANK  OF  THE  TIBER        321 

fully.  15  is  a  very  fair  specimen  of  a  Roman  portrait-statue 
draped  in  the  toga  (with  a  head  of  Antonine  date).  As  to 
16,  see  on  No.  403.    The  statues  opposite  are  poor. 

Compartment  I.  2  (Apollo)  and  5  are  good  specimens 
of  early  Imperial  bas-rehefs.  6  and  13  (opposite)  are  personi- 
fications of  Autumn  and  Winter  (heads  modern,  that  of  6 
copied  from  the  "Tragic  Muse"  at  the  entrance  of  the 
Rotunda).  They  were  found  in  a  villa  in  the  Campagna. 
12  is  a  fragment  of  relief  with  figures  of  three  gladiators, 
well  characterised. 

We  now  turn  back  and  enter  the  Braccio  Nuovo.  Be- 
fore we  review  its  contents  in  their  numerical  order  (begin- 
nmg  on  the  R.  of  the  door)  let  us  look  for  a  moment  at 
No.  126,  the  third  statue  on  the  L.  This  is  a  copy  of  the 
Doryphoros  of  Polyclitus  (cf  the  heads  in  the  Museo  Bar- 
racco,  p.  186  ff.),  and  is  as  typical  of  fifth-century  athletic 
sculpture  as  the  Apoxyomenos^  which  we  shall  see  in  a  few 
moments,  is  of  the  fourth.  The  original  was  of  bronze 
(without  the  heavy  support  which  is  necessary  in  marble) 
and  represented  a  youth  shouldering  a  spear.  Notice  first 
the  pose.  Archaic  Greek  sculpture  (like  that  of  Egypt  and 
the  East)  represented  the  human  figure  perfectly  upright, 
with  the  legs  motionless  and  strictly  parallel,  like  a  pair  of 
columns  :  in  the  fifth  century  sculptors  felt  their  way  to  a 
freer  pose,  which  introduced  a  contrast  between  the  functions 
of  the  limbs  in  rest  and  motion,  as  well  as  between  the  muscles 
of  the  upper  part  of  the  body,  when  relaxed  and  in  tension. 
Polyclitus'  solution  of  the  problem  was  a  veiy  individual  one 
— the  R.  leg  bore  the  weight  of  the  body,  the  L.  was  thrown 
back,  producing  the  appearance  of  a  figure  just  pausing  in 
its  walk.  Ancient  critics  remarked  that  his  statues  seemed 
to  be  "all  of  one  pattern."  They  also  criticised  his  system 
of  proportions — which  in  its  day  was  deemed  so  perfect 
that  this  statue  was  called  the  "Canon" — saying  that  his 
figures  were  too  squarely  built,  as  indeed  they  appear  to  us. 
Notice,  lastly,  the  absence  of  expression  in  the  face  ;  Poly- 
clitus aimed  at  solving  a  problem  oi  forni^  not  at  embodying 
a  spiritual  conception. 


322        THE  RIGHT  BANK  OF  THE  TIBER     [xii. 

We  will  now  take  the  several  monuments  in  order,  begin- 
ning to  R.  of  the  entrance,  i  is  a  herm  of  Dionysus  (with 
plaster  head),  2-4  Roman  portraits  of  small  merit.  5  (with 
modern  head)  is  a  poor  copy  of  one  of  the  Caryatids  which 
supported  the  roof  of  the  porch  of  the  Erechtheum  on  the 
Acropolis  at  Athens  —the  original  has  been  removed  to  the 
British  Museum.  We  know  that  there  were  such  Caryatids 
in  the  original  Pantheon  of  Agrippa  (p.  173),  but  this  cannot 
be  one  of  them.  The  function  of  the  figure  in  supporting  a 
light  entablature  is  just  indicated,  but  not  exaggerated,  by  its 
pose  and  the  fall  of  its  drapery.  7,  a  poor  replica  of  the 
head  of  "Melpomene"  in  the  Hall  of  the  Muses,  shows 
clearly  that  the  original  of  both  was  of  bronze.  8,  a  Greek 
portrait-statue  in  hunting  costume,  has  had  a  head  of  Com- 
modus  set  upon  it.  9,  the  head  of  a  Dacian  captive,  is  from 
Trajan's  Forum.  It  is  coarsely  executed,  and  was  meant  to 
be  seen  from  a  distance.  11,  a  statue  of  Silenus  playing 
with  the  infant  Bacchus,  must  have  been  a  famous  work,  as 
several  replicas  are  known  :  the  pose,  and  the  shape  of  the 
support,  recall  the  colossal  Heracles  at  Naples,  which 
(as  we  know)  was  inspired  by  (not  copied  from)  that  of 
Lysippus  ;  the  spirit  oi  the  statue  is  rather  that  of  Praxiteles. 
Perhaps  it  was  the  work  of  a  master  influenced  by  both. 
12  is  a  good  third-century  bust,  which  illustrates  the  fashion 
of  wearing  the  toga  under  the  Later  Empire.  The  folds  on 
the  breast  were  carefully  arranged  in  flat  bands  like  planks 
— hence  the  name  contabulatio.  T\\^  pallium  as  a  Christian 
vestment,  in  its  latest  form,  was  derived  from  a  garment 
similarly  worn. 

14  deserves  special  notice.  It  is  a  statue  ot  Augustus 
found  at  Prima  Porta,  where  his  wife  Livia  had  a  villa.  He 
is  represented  as  Iinperator,  in  the  act  of  addressing  his 
assembled  legions — yet  with  a  touch  of  idealism  in  that  he 
is  bareheaded  and  barefooted.  From  the  features  we  should 
infer  that  he  was  past  middle  age  when  the  portrait  was 
m,ade  \  and  the  reliefs  on  the  cuirass — which  are  full  of 
calculated  symbolism— enable  as  to  assign  a  date  to  the 
statue,     At  the  top  is  Callus,  the  sky-god,  rising  from   the 


XII.]       THE  RIGHT  BANK  OF  THE  TIBER       323 

clouds  ;  below,  to  his  L.,  the  chariot  of  the  Sun  ;  to  R.  the 
goddess  of  the  Morning  Dew  (note  the  pitcher,  and  compare 
the  rehef  in  the  Museo  Chiaramonti,  No  644)  bearing  a 
figure  of  Dawn.  To  the  Heaven  above  answers  Earth  below 
— a  mother-goddess  with  her  children,  holding  in  her  hand 
the  horn  of  plenty.  But  the  significant  figures  are  reserved 
for  the  centre  of  the  cuirass.  Here  we  see  a  Parthian  hand- 
ing over  a  legionary  standard  to  a  youthful  figure,  fully  armed, 
shown  by  his  faithful  war-dog  to  be  Mars.  We  are  reminded 
of  Augustus'  great  diplomatic  triumph,  the  restoration  (in 
20  B.C.)  of  the  standards  taken  by  the  Parthians  from 
Crassus  on  the  fatal  day  of  Carrha?  (53  B.C.).  But  we  can* 
date  the  statue  later  than  this.  To  R.  and  L.  sit  two  mourn- 
ing women,  personifying  the  conquered  nations  of  Gaul 
(to  R.  ;  note  the  dragon-trumpet  and  the  boar  on  the  stan- 
dard) and  Spain  (to  L. ;  the  sword  is  characteristic).  They 
refer  to  Augustus'  pacification  of  the  West,  completed  in 
13  B.C.  and  celebrated  by  the  erection  of  the  Ara  Pacis 
(p.  184).  Finally,  the  Eros  and  dolphin  which  prop  the  R. 
leg  remind  us  of  the  divine  ancestry  of  the  Julian  house, 
sprung  from  ^neas  the  grandson  of  Aphrodite.  We  can 
detect  traces  of  colour,  still  bright  when  the  statue  was 
found  in  1863,  but  fast  fading.  Pink,  blue,  red,  brown  and 
yellow  were  freely  used  ;  the  cuirass  was  to  be  imagined  of 
gilded  metal  adorned  with  enamels.  The  sculptor  was 
doubtless  sought  amongst  the  masters  of  the  craft,  and  his 
work  gives  us  no  mean  idea  of  Augustan  art.  The  weakest 
point  is  perhaps  the  drapery. 

17  is  either  a  statue  of  the  youthful  Asclepios  (^sculapius) 
or  a  portrait  of  a  physician  of  the  Antonine  period,  idealised 
under  the  form  of  the  god  of  healing  and  therefore  differing 
in  such  a  detail  as  the  plain  eyeballs  from  the  ordinary 
portrait  of  the  time. 

18  is  a  very  good  head  of  Claudius,  with  the  somewhat 
pathetic  expression  which  we  often  notice  in  his  portraits  ; 
20  has  been  restored  with  a  plaster  cast  of  the  head  of 
Nerva  in  the  Cortile  del  Belvedere  ;  21  is  a  good  portrait  of 
the  time  of  Septimius  Severus  or  Caracalla,  22  resembles  the 


324       THE   RIGHT  BANK  OF  THE    TIBER    [xii. 

head  of  the  archaic  Apollo  in  the  Salone  of  the  Capitoline 
Museum,  No.  20  (see  p.  122),  and  may  be  copied  from  a 
work  of  the  same  artist. 

23,  a  Roman  grave-statue,  reproduces  a  favourite  type  of 
draped  figure,  created  probably  by  the  Rhodian  sculptor 
Philiscus  (whose  Muses  have  already  been  mentioned)  in  the 
second  century  B.C.  ;  it  is  conventionally  termed  "  Pudicitia," 
i.e.  Modesty. 

24,  an  archaic  type,  is  in  nearly  all  respects  identical  with 
a  head  (85)  in  the  Room  of  the  Philosophers,,  but  once  had 
horns  ;   it  therefore  probably  represents  a  river-god,  while 

•the  Capitoline  bust  may  be  meant  for  Apollo. 

26  is  a  statue  of  Titus — the  "  darling  of  the  human  race  " 
— which  was  found  together  with   No.    in    opposite;  this 
latter  figure  has  naturally  been  identified  with  his  daughter 
Julia,  beloved  and  deified  by  Domitian,  but  the  resemblance  \ 
of  the  face  to  her  coin-types  is  not  close. 

27  (of  which  ICO  opposite  is  a  cast),  40,  and  93  are  effective 
heads  of  Medusa  used  in  architectural  decorations,  apparently 
from  Hadrian's  Temple  of  Venus  and  Rome. 

In  the  recess  which  follows  are  grouped  several  statues, 
chiefly  of  Satyrs,  which  served  as  fountain-figures  and 
garden  decorations  in  Roman  villas.  The  two  seated  Satyrs 
(32  and  33)  were  composed  as  pendants,  and  the  same  is 
true  of  the  Nereids  (34  and  35)  ;  these  were  found  in  a  villa 
facing  the  falls  of  the  Anio  at  Tivofi.  38A  (the  boy-Satyr 
playing  the  flute)  was  a  very  popular  type,  dating  from  early 
Hellenistic  times  ;  38B]  is  Narcissus,  and  belongs  to  the 
same  period. 

37,  a  daughter  of  Niobe,  is  the  finest  of  all  the  extant 
figures  belonging  to  copies  of  a  well-known  group  of  statues 
representing  the  tragic  fate  of  the  Niobids.  The  original 
group  was  brought  to  Rome  from  Asia  Minor  by  Sosius, 
a  Roman  military  commander,  in  35  B.C.,  and  stood  in  the 
Temple  of  Apollo  in  the  Campus  Martius,  where  it  became 
one  of  the  famous  sights  of  Rome.  The  art  critics  of  the 
Empire  disputed  whether  it  should  be  assigned  to  Scopas  or 
Praxiteles— from  which  we  may  surely  infer  that  it  was  not 


I 


XII.]       THE  RIGHT  BANK  OF  THE  TIBER        325 

the  work  of  either  of  those  artists,  though  doubtless  by 
some  nameless  sculptor  inspired  by  them  (more  particularly 
by  Scopas).  In  the  centre  of  the  group  was  Niobe  herself, 
clasping  her  youngest  daughter  in  her  arms  in  a  vain 
endeavour  to  shield  her  from  the  arrows  of  Apollo  ;  there  are 
copies  (but  not  first-rate  ones)  of  this  and  other  figures  at 
Florence  (and  some  scattered  in  Roman  museums,  p.  no).  It 
is  hard  to  say  how  the  figures  were  arranged  ;  they  stand  on 
a  rocky,  uneven  surface,  but  will  not  fit  into  a  pediment. 
The  one  before  us  is  a  splendid  example  of  the  treatment  of 
drapery  in  broad  masses,  and  were  it  not  that  the  surface  of 
the  plinth  is  smooth  (the  rocks  were  omitted  by  the  copyist), 
we  might  assign  it  to  the  original  group.  The  replica  at 
Florence  is  less  simple  in  its  drapery,  and  as  it  is  a  poorer 
copy,  we  must  suppose  that  it  was  made  from  a  later  rendering 
of  the  figure.  This  one  must  clearly  be  closer  to  the  fourth- 
century  original;  Observe  how  far  removed  we  are  from  the 
pathological  detail  of  the  Laocoon,  which  illustrates  a  legend 
of  the  same  tragic  significance. 

The  fine  vase  of  basalt  in  the  centre  of  the  gallery  was 
found  on  the  site  of  the  house  of  Atticus  (the  friend  of 
Cicero)  on  the  Quirinal,  the  mosaics  on  which  it  stands 
at  Tor  Marancia  (see  p.  348). 

41,  a  statue  of  Apollo  the  lyre-player  (head  restored), 
belongs  to  a  school  with  whose  work  we  are  already 
acquainted  (see  on  No.  495  in  the  Sala  delle  Muse) :  the 
drapery  of  this  figure  is  remarkably  like  that  of  the  Victory 
of  Paeonius,  a  Thracian  sculptor,  discovered  at  Olympia. 

The  four  female  busts  which  follow  can  be  dated  by  the 
fashion  of  their  hair  ;  45  (the  best)  is  Claudian,  42  Flavian, 
46  late  in  the  second  century,  43  fairly  early  in  the  third. 

44  is  a  copy  of  the  Wounded  Amazon  of  Cresilas  ;  on  this 
see  p.  123.  47  must  be  compared  with  No.  5  ;  note  the  greater 
freedom  of  pose  and  drapery  which  shows  this  to  be  a  later 
adaptation  of  the  motive.  It  was  found  (with  others,  one 
signed  by  two  Neo-Attic  artists,  Criton  and  Nicolaus)  on  the 
Appian  Way,  in  a  sanctuary  built  by  Herodes  Atticus 
(a  famous  Athenian  millionaire  of  the  second  century  A.D.) 


326        THE  RIGHT  BANK  OF  THE  TIBER      [xil. 

in  honour  of  his  wife  and  Faustina  the  Elder,  whose  priestess 
she  was. 

48  is  a  very  good  portrait  of  Trajan,  49  a  excellent  portrait 
of  the  late  Republic  on  a  third-century  bust. 

50  represents  the  moon-goddess  Selene,  conceived  as 
approaching  the  sleeping  Endymion.  52  has  been  thought 
to  be  a  portrait  of  Matidia,  niece  of  Trajan  and  mother-in- 
law  of  Hadrian. 

53  is  a  finely  conceived  statue  of  a  tragic  poet — one  could 
easily  believe  it  to  be  that  of  ^schylus  which  stood  beside 
the  Lateran  Sophocles  (p.  235).  The  poor  portrait  of  Euripides 
which  has  been  set  on  it  is  much  too  small  for  the  figure. 

54  is  a  good  portrait  of  the  Emperor  Pupienus,  one  of  the 
two  set  up  by  the  Senate  during  its  brief  tenure  of  power  in 
A.D,  238,  but  shortly  afterwards  murdered. 

56,  with  a  portrait-head  which  might  be  that  of  Julia,  the 
daughter  of  Titus,  is  derived  from  a  fine  Attic  Athena  of  the 
fifth  century,  which  was  of  bronze.  There  is  a  well-known 
replica  at  Deepdene. 

58  (with  a  strangely  modern  expression)  may  be  Soaemias, 
the  mother  of  Heliogabalus  ;  60  is  an  extremely  fine  portrait 
of  a  famous  Roman  (there  are  other  examples)  whom  we 
cannot  name,  a  contemporary  of  Julius  Cccsar.  61  may  be 
Crispina,  the  wife  of  Commodus. 

62  is  a  portrait  of  Demosthenes,  copied  from  that  by 
Polyeuctus,  which  was  set  up  by  the  Athenians  in  280  B.C. 
We  are  told  that  the  orator  was  represented  with  clasped 
hands  ;  and  in  1901  the  hands  of  another  copy  were  found, 
which  show  that  this  one  is  wrongly  restored.  Note  the 
thin,  wasted  body  and  keen  face,  bearing  manifest  traces  of 
the  life-long  struggle  waged  by  Demosthenes  with  natural 
disadvantages  and  implacable  enemies. 

63  is  a  remarkable  example  of  the  Renaissance  of  por 
traiture  under  Gallienus,  and  closely  resembles  a  head  in  the 
Capitohne  Museum  (p.  126);  64  is  a  good  female  portrait 
of  the  time  of  Augustus. 

67  is  a  unique  copy  of  the  bronze  Apoxyomenos  of  Lysip- 
pus — the  masterpiece  of  fourth-century  athletic  sculpture. 


XII.]       THE  RIGHT  BANK  OF  THE  TIBER        327 

The  essential  difference  between  this  figure  and  the  Dory- 
phoros  of  PolycHtus,  which  we  have  just  seen,  Hes  not  so  much 
in  the  altered  scheme  of  proportions  (the  head  accounts  for  \ 
instead  of  ^  of  the  total  height)  as  in  the  rounding  and 
modelling  of  the  forms — there  are  none  of  the  sharply 
divided  planes  of  the  earlier  statue,  nor  are  we  confined  to 
a  single  point  of  view  in  regarding  it.  The  athlete  is  repre- 
sented in  the  act  of  scraping  himself  with  the  strigil  after 
exercise,  and  the  die  in  the  R.  hand  is  due  to  a  blunder  of 
the  restorer.  The  face  has  more  expression  than  those  of 
PolycHtus'  statues,  and  comes  nearest  to  those  of  Scopas 
amongst  Lysippus'  contemporaries.  The  original  was 
brought  to  Rome  by  Agrippa  to  adorn  his  Baths  (p.  172). 

Turning  back  towards  the  entrance,  notice  69,  a  good  por- 
trait of  Trajan's  time,  and  72,  a  head  of  Ptolemy,  the  grand- 
son of  Cleopatra  and  last  king  of  Mauretania,  who  was 
summoned  to  Rome  by  Caligula  and  put  to  death  for  the 
sake  of  his  vast  treasures.  Next  to  it  is  71,  a  copy  of  the 
Amazon  of  PolycHtus;  as  to  this  see  p.  123,  and  notice 
the  characteristic  pose  of  the  legs.  76  seems  to  be  a  por- 
trait of  Gordian  III  (a.d.  238-244). 

'j']^  a  portrait-statue  of  Augustan  date,  conjectured  to  be 
Antonia,  the  wife  of  Drusus  and  mother  of  Germanicus  and 
Claudius,  is  noteworthy  for  its  drapery,  copied  from  a  fourth- 
century  type.  81  is  a  faithful,  not  idealised,  portrait  of 
Hadrian.  83  is  an  almost  precise  replica  of  the  Hera  Bar- 
berini  in  the  Rotunda  (p.  278). 

Notice  86,  a  figure  which  has  two  replicas  (though  with 
different  attributes)  in  this  gallery — Nos.  59  and  74.  We 
see  how  Roman  copyists  adapted  a  famous  Greek  type — in 
this  case  one  of  the  early  fourth  century  B.C. — to  various  uses. 

87  is  a  very  good  portrait  of  the  time  of  Caracalla,  89  has 
had  a  head  of  the  aged  Sophocles  set  upon  it  ;  90  is  perhaps 
Faustina  the  Younger  (or  her  daughter  Lucilla),  91  a  lady 
of  Trajan's  time.  94  (restored  as  Ceres)  is  shown  by  the 
woollen  fillets  on  the  shoulder  to  be  a  statue  of  a  priestess  ; 
it  is,  like  No.  120  in  the  Museo  Chiaramonti  (p.  319),  adapted 
from  a  fifth-century  type. 


328        THE  RIGHT  BANK  OF  THE  TIBER     [xil. 

I  n  the  recess  on  the  R.  let  us  first  of  all  notice  the  busts.  97  A 
is  one  of  the  masterpieces  of  Roman  Imperial  art ;  it  has  been 
dubbed  ♦'  Mark  Antony,"  but  is  really  of  the  Flavian  period, 
as  is  shown  by  the  unbroken  shape  of  the  bust.  The  treat- 
ment of  the  hair  might  suggest  a  later  date,  but  there  is  no 
mistaking  the  "  impressionist"  touch  of  the  artist  who  hits  off 
a  character — intellectual,  yet  sensual— with  a  few  strokes  of 
the  chisel.  98  (above)  may  be  Julia  Domna ;  100  is  a  youthful 
Marcus  Aurelius.  102  is  a  modern  head  of  Augustus,  placed 
here  to  complete  the  supposed  triumvirate,  for  the  "  Mark 
Antony"  is  balanced  by  a  "  Lepidus"~No.  106;  here  the 
bust  form  is  Trajanic,  but  the  portrait  seems  to  be  a  little 
later  (Hadrian  introduced  the  fashion  of  wearing  the 
beard).  The  other  busts  are  either  modern  or  of  little 
importance. 

Amongst  the  athlete  types,  notice  that  99  and  103  repro- 
duce the  same  original  (the  head  of  99  belonged  to  a  dupli- 
cate of  105,  that  of  103  is  modern)— a  youth  holding  up  an 
oil-flask  in  his  L.  hand  and  letting  the  fluid  trickle  into  his  R. 
palm ;  105  belongs  to  the  same  school,  but  is  a  slightly  later 
work  ;  the  subject  was  an  athlete  scraping  his  L,  wrist  with 
the  strigil.  Both  pairs  of  statues  (counting  the  head  of  99 
as  one)  stood  in  the  same  villa  at  Tivoli  as  Nos.  32-35. 
loi  is  clearly  akin  to  the  Doryphoros  of  Polyclitus,  but  it 
is  hard  to  be  sure  if  it  actually  reproduces  a  work  of  the 
master  himself. 

Now  turn  to  the  colossal  figure  of  the  Nile  (109),  found 
iu  15 13  on  the  site  of  the  temple  of  Isis  in  the  Campus 
Martius ;  the  Tiber,  now  in  the  Louvre,  was  discovered  not 
far  off.  The  first  clearly  represents  an  original  product  of 
Alexandrian  art — the  second  a  pendant  executed  in  Rome 
itself.  The  impish  crew  of  children — sixteen  in  all — typify 
the  sixteen  cubits  through  which  the  Nile  must  rise  in  order 
to  fertihse  the  soil  of  Egypt.  Do  not  omit  to  notice  the  low 
reliefs  on  the  plinth,  which  portray  the  river  itself  and  its 
animal  and  vegetable  life,  with  pygmies  in  boats.  The  genius 
of  the  artist  has  redeemed  from  triviality  the  frigid  conceit 
which  is  embodied  in  the  group  ;  and  the  majestic  figure  of 


XII.]      THE  RIGHT  BANK  OF  THE  TIBER       329 

the  river-god  must  be  pronounced  the  masterpiece  of  Ptole- 
maic sculpture. 

112  is  a  fine  head  of  doubtful  interpretation,  generally 
described  as  Hera,  but  by  others  supposed  to  be  Persephone 
or  Selene,  since  it  seems  too  young  for  a  matronly  goddess. 
The  original  can  hardly  have  been  earlier  than  300  B.C. 

114  is  known  as  the  Athena  Giustiniani  ;  it  has  already 
been  mentioned  on  p.  112.  The  replica  in  the  Capitol  has 
no  aegis,  and  perhaps  this  was  added  by  the  copyist  in  this 
case.  The  original  was  of  bronze,  and  from  the  severity  of 
the  type  we  must  date  it  in  the  fifth  century  B.C. — the 
influence  of  the  art  of  Phidias  seems  unmistakable.  The 
ideal  of  the  maiden  goddess  is  finely  conceived. 

116  is  a  first-rate  portrait  of  the  late  Republic — it  recalls 
the  features  of  Cn.  Domitius  Ahenobarbus,  the  grandfather 
of  Nero.  117  bears  a  good  head  of  Claudius.  118  is  a 
Dacian,  like  No.  9 ;  it  is  said  to  have  been  found  in 
Trajan's  harbour  at  Ostia.  120  is  a  poor  copy  of  the 
"Marble  Faun,"  121  ahead  of  Commodus  in  the  charac- 
teristic technique  of  his  time.  On  123  is  set  a  portrait  of 
Lucius  Verus  (cf.  p.  288). 

124  is  one  of  the  finest  third-century  busts  in  existence, 
and  represents  Philip  the  Arabian,  Emperor  a.d.  244-7. 
It  shows  that,  in  spite  of  increasing  poverty  in  technical 
resource,  Roman  sculptors  were  still  able  to  depict  craft  and 
cruelty  with  unerring  hand.  (The  head  of  125  is  a  modern 
copy  from  that  of  the  Apollo  of  the  Belvedere.) 

127  was  the  finest  of  the  heads  of  Dacians  found  in 
Trajan's  Forum,  but  has  suffered  much  at  the  hands  of  a 
modern  scalpellino.  The  cap  {piieus)  was  only  worn  by  the 
Dacian  aristocracy  ;  the  racial  type  is  admirably  rendered. 

129  is  a  statue  of  Domitian— one  of  the  few  portraits  of 
that  much-hated  Emperor  which  are  preserved.  The  type 
should  be  compared  with  that  of  No.  14  opposite  ;  but  note 
that  the  historical  figures  on  the  cuirass  are  absent.  Instead, 
we  have  the  emblems  of  land  (Nymph  and  ox)  and  sea 
(Dolphin  and  Triton).  The  features  are  those  of  a  man 
more   cultured   but   less   benevolent   than   Vespasian    and 


330        THE  RIGHT  BANK  OF  THE  TIBER     [xii. 

Titus.  130  is  another  portrait  of  the  time  of  GaHienus 
(cf.  67).  132  is  an  effective  fourth-century  type  of  Hermes  ; 
the  head  (which  does  not  belong  to  it)  is  a  good  replica  of 
that  of  the  "Antinous"  of  the  Belvedere  (p.  306).  133  is  a 
faithful  portrait  of  Julia  Domna. 

135  (restored  rightly  as  Hermes)  would  be  of  little 
interest  but  for  the  fact  that  it  bears  the  signature  of  Zeno 
of  Aphrodisias,  one  of  a  school  of  sculptors  of  whom  we 
have  already  heard  (p.  114).  It  is  a  purely  decorative  work 
(like  Nos.  65  and  67 A,  which  are  similar). 

Passing  out  of  the  Braccio  Nuovo,  we  see  on  our  R,  the 
entrance  of  the  Galleria  Lapidaria,  which  contains  an 
important  collection  of  Latin  inscriptions  and  a  few  interest- 
ing sculptures. 

In  Compartment  XLVII,  notice  the  use  of  the  "  Pudicitia" 
type  as  an  ornament,  apparently  for  a  tombstone.  Observe 
several  sarcophagi  with  plain  flutings  and  figures  only  in 
the  middle  and  at  the  ends — a  frequent  type.  On'  169 
(Compartment  XXXIX)  the  husband  and  wife  are  seen  in 
the  centre  ;  it  is  a  good  piece  of  second-century  work  ;  on 
159  (Compartment  XXXVII)  their  place  is  taken  by  Victory 
writing  on  a  shield.  In  Compartment  XXXV  notice  (147) 
a  grave-altar  with  reliefs  representing  on  one  side  a  smithy, 
on  the  other  a  cutler's  shop.  The  Mithraic  monuments  in 
Compartment  XXXIII  were  found  at  Ostia.  Compartment 
XXXI  contains  several  tombstones  of  equites  singulares, 
a  mounted  bodyguard  instituted  by  Trajan  and  formed  of 
Germans.  In  Compartment  XXIX,  128  is  an  interesting 
tombstone  with  a  relief  showing  a  piece  of  artillery  (no 
doubt  with  improvements  invented  by  the  deceased, 
Vedennius  Moderatus,  who  served  under  the  Flavian 
emperors).  In  Compartment  XXVI  notice  115A,  the  tomb- 
stone of  a  man  and  wife,  whose  portraits  appear  in  front  ; 
on  the  L.  side  they  are  seen  instructing  their  children.  In 
Compartment  XXIV,  loi  is  the  torso  of  a  Triton  which 
formed  a  pendant  to  that  which  we  saw  in  the  Galleria  delle 
Statue  (p.  289).  In  Compartment  XIX,  83A  is  the  tombstone 
of  a  boy  (second  century   A.D.)  represented   with    the   at- 


Xii.j       THE  RIGHT  BANK  OF  THE  TIBER        331 

tributes  of  Apollo.  80A,  a  family  group,  has  modern  in- 
scriptions over  the  heads. 

Returning  .to  the  Museo  Chiaramonti,  we  may  obtain 
admission  to  the  Qiardino  della  Pigna  (entrance  to  L. 
just  before  ascending  the  steps  to  the  Belvedere).  The 
sculptures  preserved  here  are  for  the  most  part  of  minor 
importance,  but  there  is  a  group  of  monuments  by  the  R. 
wall  which  should  be  noticed.  The  Pigna  itself,  a  colossal 
bronze  pine-cone,  is  traditionally  held  to  have  adorned  the 
summit  of  the  original  Pantheon  ;  not  only,  however,  is 
there  no  evidence  of  this,  but  it  seems  to  have  been  from 
the  first  used  as  a  fountain,  being  full  of  holes  through 
which  jets  of  water  streamed.  Probably  it  stood  in  or  near 
the  temple  of  Isis  in  the  Campus  Martins — this  region  was 
called  "  Pigna"  in  the  Middle  Ages  ;  thence,  at  some  un- 
known date,  it  was  transferred  to  the  "paradisus"  or  fore- 
court in  front  of  Old  St.  Peter's^  where  it  stood  under  a 
canopy  supported  by  columns.  When  it  was  removed  to 
the  Belvedere  by  Innocent  VIII,  it  had  long  ceased  to  serve 
as  a  fountain.  It  bears  a  thrice  repeated  inscription  which 
tells  us  that  the  maker  was  called  P.  Cincius  Salvius.  It  rests 
on  a  large  figured  capital  decorated  with  athletic  types. 

On  either  side  of  the  Pigna  are  placed  bronze  peacocks 
(once  gilt)  ;  they  seem  to  have  stood  by  the  entrance  of  the 
Mausoleum  of  Hadrian,  and  thence  to  have  been  removed 
to  the  fore-court  of  Old  St.  Peter's  and  used  to  decorate  the 
canopy  over  the  Pigna.  The  peacock  was  in  Pagan  times 
the  symbol  of  apotheosis,  in  Christian  times  that  of  im- 
mortality. 

Behind  the  Pigna  is  the  pedestal  of  the  Column  of 
Antoninus  Pius  (cf.  p.  184),  found  in  J703,  removed  to  the 
Vatican  gardens  by  Pius  VI,  and  placed  in  the  Giardino 
della  Pigna  by  Gregory  XVI.  The  column,  set  up  by 
M.  Aurelius  and  L.  Verus  in  memory  of  their  adoptive 
father,  was  of  plain  granite,  crowned  by  a  statue  of  the 
deified  Emperor.  There  is  a  remarkable  contrast  between 
the  style  of  the  relief  on  the  front  and  that  of  those  on  the 
sides.      The    first   is  a   conventional    scene    of    apotheosis. 


332         THE  RIGHT  BANK  OF  THE  TIBER     [xii. 

Antoninus  and  Faustina  are  borne  aloft  on  the  wings  of  a 
youthful  ideal  figure,  accompanied  by  eagles  on  either  side. 
Below  them  are  seated  (r.)  Roma,  whose  shield  is  adorned 
with  the  Wolf  and  Twins,  and  (l.)  a  youthful  figure  holding 
an  obelisk — the  Campus  Martius.  The  style  is  that  of 
Hadrianic  classicism.  On  the  sides  are  realistic  representa- 
tions of  the  decursio^  a  cavalry  manoeuvre  executed  during 
the  ceremony  of  consecration.  The  ensigns  carried  by  the 
central  figures  are  those  of  the  praetorian  guards.  Here 
we  have  new  principles  asserting  themselves,  which  were  to 
carry  Roman  art  further  and  further  away  from  the  classical 
standard.     The  figures  seem  almost  like  marionettes. 

On  the  E.  side  of  the  court  notice  (52)  a  colossal  head, 
much  restored,  ideal  in  type,  and  beside  it  (53)  a  "province" 
like  those  which  we  saw  in  the  Palazzo  dei  Conservatori. 

Returning  to  the  Sala  a  Croce  Greca  we  may  ascend  the 
staircase  in  front  of  us,  reaching  a  landing  from  which  (on 
the  R.)  we  enter  the  circular  domed  hall  called  the  Sala 
della  Biga.  It  takes  its  name  from  (623)  the  Biga  or  two- 
horse  chariot  of  marble  which  stands  in  the  centre  of  the 
room.  The  body  of  the  car — gracefully  decorated  with 
ears  of  corn  and  poppies  springing  from  acanthus  plants- 
was  for  centuries  used  as  an  episcopal  chair  in  S.  Marco.  The 
pole  adorned  with  pearls,  fillet,  and  branches  of  bay  (inside 
the  car)  is  a  symbol  of  tree  worship.  The  horses  are  almost 
wholly  modern. 

Proceeding  from  R.  to  L.  notice  first  (608)  a  fine  statue  of 
the  bearded  Dionysus,  commonly  known  as  "  Sardan- 
apallus"  from  the  inscription  (certainly  not  due  to  the 
artist)  on  the  edge  of  the  cloak.  The  R.  hand  should  be 
restored  with  the  thyrsus.  It  has  been  ascribed  to  Alca- 
menes,  to  Cephisodotus  (the  father  of  Praxiteles),  or  to 
Praxiteles  himself.  So  far  as  the  date  is  concerned,  the 
second  of  these  artists  suits  the  style  of  the  statue,  and 
especially  of  the  drapery,  best.  Below  it  is  (609)  a  sarco- 
phagus representing  Erotes  chariot-racing  ;  there  are  two 
similar  ones  (613,  617)  in  the  room. 


XII.]       THE  RIGHT  BANK  OF  THE  TIBER       y^^ 

6ro  again  represents  Dionysus,  but  in  a  very  different 
way.  The  almost  effeminate  forms  of  the  youthful  god 
point  to  the  Hellenistic  age. 

6ii,  copied  from  a  bronze  athlete-statue  of  the  fifth 
century,  which  represented  a  runner,  received  the  name  of 
Alcibiades  because  its  head  (mostly  restored)  was  thought 
to  resemble  the  supposed  portrait  of  that  statesman  in  the 
Sala  delle  Muse. 

612  is  a  fine  example  of  Roman  drapery  ;  it  represents  a 
priest  in  the  act  of  sacrifice,  with  the  toga  drawn  over  his 
head,  and  dates  from  the  close  of  the  Republic  (the  head 
does  not  belong  to  it).  As  the  statue  is  made  of  Pentelic 
marble,  and  may  have  come  from  Greece,  it  is  possibly  the 
work  of  a  Greek  artist,  who  found  a  congenial  task  in  por- 
traying the  ample  folds  of  the  Roman  toga. 

615,  the  effect  of  which  is  marred  by  the  props  intro- 
duced by  the  copyist,  reproduces  a  bronze  of  the  later  fifth 
century  (and  the  Attic  school)  ;  the  subject  is  an  athlete 
placing  himself  in  position  for  the  throw  of  the  discus — 
just  before  the  body-swing  which  will  bring  him  into  the 
attitude  of  No.  618,  which  represents  Myron's  more  famous 
statue;  on  this  see  p.  219.  (The  discus  would  first  be 
transferred  to  the  R.  hand.)  The  artist  may  have  been 
Alcamenes. 

616  was  called  Phocion  because  the  head  of  an  Athenian 
general  (whom  we  cannot  identify)  was  set  upon  it.  It 
really  represented  Hermes,  wearing  a  broad-brimmed  hat 
and  holding  the  caduceus  in  his  L.  hand,  and  is  copied  from 
a  fifth-century  original. 

On  618  see  above  ;  remember  that  the  modern  head  is 
looking  forward  instead  of  backward  at  the  discus.  The 
inscription  with  the  name  of  Myron  is  modern. 

619  is  a  charioteer  {auriga)^  wearing  the  costume  used  in 
the  races  of  the  circus  ;  the  knife  was  used  to  cut  the  reins 
in  case  of  accident.  The  head  was  lost — we  must  imagine 
it  with  the  aid  of  those  which  we  have  seen,  p.  218  ;  that 
which  has  replaced  it  is  derived  from  a  Polyclitan  type, 
.    620  is  copied  from  a  Greek  portrait-statue,  probably  of 


334         THE  RIGHT  BANK  OF  THE    TIBER     [xii. 

the  fourth  century,  but  bears  a  Roman  head  of  the  second 
century  A.D.,  wrongly  identified  as  Sextus,  the  Stoic  teacher 
of  Marcus  Aurelius,  Below  it  is  (621)  a  sarcophagus  re- 
presenting the  mythical  chariot-race  between  Pelops  and 
OEnomaus  at  Olympia,  with  details — such  as  the  inetce— 
borrowed  from  the  Roman  circus. 

Leaving  the  Sala  della  Biga,  we  turn  to  the  R.  and  enter 
the  Qalleria  dei  Candelabri,  so-called  from  the  ancient 
marble  candelabra  which  flank  the  arches  by  which  it  is 
divided  into  bays.  The  monuments  on  the  R.  will  be 
described  first,  then  those  (returning)  on  the  L.  in  each  bay. 

First  bay.  i  is  a  vase  of  breccia  verde  ;  2  (much  restored) 
a  bird's  nest  containing  children,  used  as  a  garden  decoration. 
1 1  is  a  torso  of  the  Satyr  pouring  wine,  after  Praxiteles, 
which  we  saw  in  the  Ludovisi  collection  (p.  207) ;  45  (opposite) 
is  a  head  of  the  same  type.  19  recalls  the  boy  playing  with 
nuts  in  the  Palazzo  dei  Conservatori  (p.  140).  21,  a  marble 
vase,  poorly  executed,  has  interesting  reliefs  showing 
Lycurgus,  king  of  Thrace,  attacking  the  worshippers  of 
Dionysus.  26,  a  toe  from  a  figure  estimated  to  have  been 
forty-eight  feet  high,  may  have  belonged  to  one  of  the 
statues  in  the  Temple  of  Venus  and  Rome  (p.  79). 

The  candelabra  (31,  35)  were  found  at  Otricoli.  On  the 
base  of  31  we  see  Apollo,  Marsyas  hanging  on  a  tree  (with 
his  pupil  Olympus),  and  a  slave  sharpening  the  knife  for  his 
punishment. 

To  L.,  notice  52,  a  resting  Satyr,  in  green  basalt,  used  to 
imitate  the  paima  of  bronze. 

Second  bay.  74,  which  represents  Pan  pulling  a  thorn 
out  of  the  foot  of  a  Satyr,  is  (though  poor  in  execution) 
a  good  example  of  a  Hellenistic  fountain-group.  81  (from 
Hadrian's  Villa)  reproduces  the  barbaric  form  under  which 
Artemis  of  Ephesus,  the  great  nature-goddess  of  Asia 
Minor,  was  worshipped  in  later  antiquity.  It  has  usually 
been  supposed  that  this  type  was  a  primitive  one,  but  recent 
excavations  have  shown  that  in  early  times  Artemis  was 
represented  at  Ephesus  in  the  natural  human  form,  so  that 
the  Greeks  seem  to  have  borrowed  this  almost  repulsive  con- 


XII.]       THE  RIGHT  BANK  OF  THE  TIBER        335 

ception  from  their  Asiatic  neighbours.  83  is  a  sarcophagus 
similar  to  that  in  the  Lateran  (p.  239)  with  scenes  from  the 
myth  of  Orestes,  the  murder  of  Clytemnestra  and  ^gisthus 
in  the  centre,  the  three  Prunes  to  L.,  Orestes  at  Delphi  to  R. 
The  designs  are  so  much  superior  to  the  execution  that  they 
have  been  thought  to  be  derived  from  paintings.  87,  a 
barbarian  in  Oriental  costume,  is  rightly  restored  as  a 
decorative  support  for  a  vase,  and  may  be  compared  with  90, 
where  three  Sileni  perform  the  same  function  :  note  that  the 
wine-skins  which  take  the  place  of  cushions  on  their  shoulders 
served  as  spouts  for  the  fountain.  93  and  97  once  stood  in 
S.  Costanza  ;  the  figures  of  Erotes  with  which  they  were 
decorated  have  been  partly  destroyed  by  Christian  hands. 
To  L.,  113  is  a  sarcophagus  illustrating  the  legend  of 
Protesilaus,  the  first  of  the  Greeks  killed  at  Troy,  and  after- 
wards restored  to  his  wife  Laodamia  (for  a  brief  space  of 
time)  in  answer  to  her  prayers.  On  the  R.  side  we  see  the 
punishment  of  Sisyphus,  Ixion,  and  Tantalus  in  Hades. 

1 1  8a,  a  small  group  representing  Qanymedes  carried  off 
by  the  eagle  to  be  the  cupbearer  of  the  gods,  is  undoubtedly 
a  reduced  copy  from  a  famous  bronze  work  by  the  Attic 
sculptor  Leochares,  and  as  such  has  a  value  far  beyond  its 
artistic  merit.  The  impression  of  skyward  motion  is  well 
given  ;  the  L.  arm  of  Ganymedes  should  be  shading  his  eyes 
from  the  dazzling  sun.  The  supposed  resemblance  in  style 
to  the  Apollo  of  the  Belvedere,  which  has  led  many 
archaeologists  to  attribute  that  statue  to  Leochares,  is  non- 
existent. (Contrast  the  ancient  treatment  of  this  legend 
with  that  of  No.  104,  a  modern  work.) 

100  is  an  example  of  the  fantastic  capitals  used  in  later 
Roman  architecture. 

The  third  bay  contains  sculptures,  etc.  (notice  the  wall- 
paintings  of  floating  figures  of  the  type  common  at 
Pompeii)  found  at  Tor  Marancia  (p.  348),  and  others  of 
greater  importance.  131  is  a  mosaic  with  still-life 
subjects  in  brilliant  colours.  134A  is  a  modern  copy  of 
a  puteal  or  well-head  (now  in  Madrid)  with  Bacchic  scenes, 
placed  here  as  a  pendant  to  134c,  which    shows    liermes 


336        THE  RIGHT  BANK  OF  THE  TIBER     [xii. 

bringing  the  child  Dionysus  to  the  Nymphs.  134R  deserves 
attention  as  an  adaptation  of  early  Greek  types  to  the  uses 
of  Roman  reHgion.  As  its  inscription  shows,  it  represents 
Semo  Sancus,  an  ancient  Italian  divinity  identified  with 
Dius  Fidius,  the  god  who  protected  the  sanctity  of  oaths, 
and  was  dedicated  by  the  college  of  priests  who  presided 
over  the  ceremonial  burying  of  thunderbolts.  The  type^ 
however,  is  that  of  an  archaic  Apollo,  with  a  free  rendering 
of  the  nude.  135  (head  restored)  is  from  a  Greek  portrait- 
figure  which  may  be  compared  with  the  Posidippus  and 
"Menander"  of  the  Galleria  delle  Statue.  137  is  best 
interpreted  as  a  statue  of  the  Roman  goddess  Libera,  the 
consort  of  the  wine-god  Liber,,  identified  with  Dionysus. 
The  artist  has  sought  his  inspiration  in  the  art  of  the  fifth 
century  :  the  drapery  recalls  that  of  Phidias  and  his  school. 
The  candelabra,  1 57  and  219,  are  from  S.  Agnese,  and  though 
the  upper  part  is  different  the  bases  agree  with  those  of  93 
and  97,  so  that  they  probably  belong  to  the  same  set.  To 
L.  notice  148,  a  Hellenistic  figure  of  a  Satyr  carrying  a  child 
(perhaps  the  baby  Dionysus)  on  his  shoulders,  and  149A, 
as  to  which  see  on  the  "  Eros  of  Centocelle  "  (p.  289) ;  in  this 
case  Thanatos  is  indicated  by  the  torch. 

Fourth  bay.  162,  a  statuette  of  Victory  leaning  on  a 
trophy  and  placing  her  foot  on  a  ship's  prow,  is  derived  from 
a  monument  of  the  Hellenistic  period  set  up  to  commemorate 
a  victory  by  sea.  166  is  a  graceful  candelabrum  adorned 
with  the  attributes  of  Artemis.  176  and  178  are  replicas  of 
the  young  Satyr  looking  at  his  tail,  of  which  we  have  already 
spoken  (p.  202).  177,  an  aged  fisherman,  is  one  of  the 
best  examples  of  the  realistic  tendency  in  Hellenistic  genre 
sculpture,  for  which  we  should  compare  the  drunken  old 
woman  of  the  Capitol  and  the  Shepherdess  of  the  Palazzo 
dei  Conservatori  (p.  140).  The  reliefs  (much  damaged)  of 
ihe  fiufeal  (lyg)  represent  the  punishment  of  the  Danaids, 
eternally  filling  a  leaky  jar  and  that  of  Oknos,  which  we 
have  already  seen  (p.  241),  183  is  part  of  a  figure  of  Kronos 
(identified  with  Saturn)  ;  in  his  R.  hand  he  held  the  stone 
wrapped    in    swaddling-clothes    which    was   given   him   to 


XII.]       THE  RIGHT  BANK  OF  THE  TIBER        337 

swallow  in  place  of  Zeus.  184  is  a  reduced  copy  of  a  famous 
bronze  by  Eutychides,  a  pupil  of  Lysippus,  representing 
the  Fortune  of  Antioch  on  the  Orontes  (founded  in  300  B.C.). 
The  river-god  at  her  feet  is  restored  with  uplifted  arm,  but 
should  be  swimming.  The  conception  is  eminently  graceful, 
and  even  so  poor  a  copy  as  this  can  help  us  to  appreciate 
the  formal  merits  of  early  Hellenistic  sculpture  ;  its  defects 
are  those  common  to  all  allegorical  representation.  The 
crown  of  towers,  the  ears  of  corn,  the  mountain  (Silpios) 
on  which  the  goddess  sits,  the  river-god,  are  so  many  ex- 
ternal symbols  added  to  what  might  be  a  charming  genre 
figure  (like  the  terra-cotta  figurines  of  Tanagra)  in  order 
to  transform  it  into  a  divinity  ;  the  religious  spirit  is  entirely 
lacking.  The  reliefs  of  tHe  candelabrum  (187)  represent  (in 
archaistic  style)  the  contest  between  Apollo  and  Heracles 
for  the  Delphic  tripod.  (190  is  a  cast  of  the  largest  work  of 
the  kind  in  existence,  which  was  removed  by  Napoleon  and 
never  restored).  To  L.  notice  198,  a  puteal  with  figures  of 
shades  disembarking  from  Charon's  boat,  194,  a  copy  of  the 
"  boy  with  a  goose"  (p.  127)  ;  200,  an  "  archaistic"  statue  of 
Apollo  transformed  by  the  restorer  into  an  Artemis  (the 
quiver  has  taken  the  place  of  the  lyre)  ;  203,  a  variant  (with- 
out wings)  of  the  type  represented  by  189,  204,  a  sarco- 
phagus with  the  slaughter  of  the  Niobids,  similar  to  that  in 
the  Lateran  (p.  239) ;  and  208  (found  in  the  Basilica  at 
Otricoli),  which  represents  a  prince  of  the  Julian  house. 

Fifth  bay.  222  is  a  careful  copy  from  a  Peloponnesian 
original  in  bronze  of  the  middle  of  the  fifth  century  B.C.,  re- 
presenting a  girl=runner  about  to  start  in  a  race,  such  as 
those  in  which  Spartan  maidens  took  part.  The  restraint 
and  simplicity  of  early  Greek  art  are  here  seen  as  clearly  as 
in  the  "boy  extracting  a  thorn"  (p.  144),  which  belongs  to 
much  the  same  period  and  school.  On  the  L.,  notice  (246)  a 
fountain-figure  of  Pan,  adopted  from  a  Polyclitan  type  (in 
this  case  the  shepherd's  pipe  has  been  replaced  by  a  vase), 
and  234A,  a  fragment  of  relief  found  on  the  Palatine,  with 
the  figure  of  a  child=Satyr  drinking,  which  we  have  seen 
on  the  large  landscape  relief  in  the  Lateran  (p.  232).  This 
z 


338        THE  RIGHT  BANK  OF  THE  TIBER      [xii. 

is  a  much  finer  piece  of  work.  240,  an  Ethiopian  slave 
carrying  his  master's  strigil  and  oil-flask,  is  a  clever  but  re- 
pulsive study  of  the  racial  type. 

Sixth  bay.  38  is  a  statue  of  Artemis,  which  recalls  by  its 
drapery  the  Athena  Parthenos  of  Phidias,  but  is  somewhat 
later.  The  head,  however,  is  from  a  type  of  Phidias'  school. 
On  the  sarcophagus  (253)  with  Selene  and  Endymion  is 
placed  (253c)  a  female  statuette  of  early  Hellenistic  date, 
which  shows  fine  workmanship,  though  injured  by  restoration 
As  a  study  of  drapery  it  is  of  outstanding  excellence.  It 
may  have  represented  Persephone.  257  represented  Gany- 
medes  before  his  rapture,  and  is  therefore  wrongly  restored 
with  the  wine-cup.  He  should  be  shading  his  eyes  with  the 
L.  hand.  On  the  L.,  261  has  been  claimed  as  a  copy  of  the 
famous  Paris  of  Eu|)hranor  (but  see  p.  290),  and  many  re- 
plicas of  it  are  in  existence  ;  but  it  may  have  been  intended 
for  Ganymede.  264  is  a  figure  from  the  Niobid  group  (p.  324). 
269  is  a  sarcophagus  with  scenes  from  the  story  of  Castor 
and  Pollux,  who  overcame  Idas  and  Lynceus  and  carried 
oflf  their  affianced  brides,  Hilaira  and  Phoebe.  On  it  stands 
(269c)  the  statuette  of  a  Persian  from  one  of  the  groups 
dedicated  by  Attains  I  of  Pergamon  on  the  Acropolis  of 
Athens  (see  p.  214).  The  group  to  which  this  figure  belonged 
represented  the  battle  of  Marathon.  37,  a  portrait-figure  of 
one  Pompeia  Attia,  has  a  head  set  on  it  which  seems  to  have 
worn  a  laurel- wreath  and  perhaps  to  have  been  a  portrait  of 
a  poetess. 

From  the  landing  on  which  the  Sala  della  Biga  and 
Galleria  dei  Candelabri  open  we  enter  the  Museo  Qre= 
goriano  Etrusco,  in  which  we  may  make  the  acquaintance 
of  that  Etruscan  art  which  exercised  so  profound  an  in- 
fluence on  early  Rome  and  bequeathed  to  Roman  art  the 
realism  which  blended  so  strangely  with  the  ingrained 
idealism  of  the  Greeks.  This  strife  of  opposing  tendencies 
is  illustrated  in  the  first  room  (or  entrance-hall),  where  the 
recumbent  figures  from  the  lids  of  sarcophagi  found  near 
Toscanella,  with  their  minute  rendering  of  details  (ornaments, 
etc.)  contrast  with  the  attempt  to  reproduce  a  Greek  mode) 


XII.]       THE  RIGHT  BANK  OF  THE  TIBER       339 

in  the  sarcophagus  of  nenfro  (a  volcanic  stone  quarried  in 
Etruria)  made  the  slaughter  of  the  Niobids.  The  horse's 
heads  in  the  same  material  stood  on  either  side  of  the  en- 
trance to  a  tomb. 

In  Room  II  is  a  collection  of  ash=chests  made  of  alabaster 
and  travertine,  found  for  the  most  part  near  Volterra  and 
Chiusi.  Here  we  see  the  figure  of  deceased  on  the  lid  ;  the 
front  is  decorated  in  relief  with  scenes  from  Greek  mythology 
(notice  56,  the  raceof  Pelops and  Qinomaus,  cf  p.334) ;  61,  Paris 
and  Helen  embarking  for  Troy ;  and  86,  Actaeon  torn  by  his 
hounds)  or  from  the  demonology  of  the  Etruscans  themselves 
(44  and  67,  a  demon  conducting  a  horseman,  i.e.  the  dead 
man).  Note  the  bright  colours  used.  On  the  cases  are 
several  reahstic  portrait-heads  in  terra-cotta. 

In  Room  III  are  some  inscribed  monuments,  notably  a 
tomb  in  the  form  of  a  circular  temple.  The  meaning  of  the 
Etruscan  inscriptions  can  often  be  guessed,  but  the  affini- 
ties of  the  language  are  not  yet  determined. 

Room  IV  contains  some  excellent  examples  of  sculpture 
in  painted  terra=cotta.  The  statue  of  Hermes  in  the 
middle  of  the  room  (from  a  Hellenistic  type)  and  the  frag- 
ments of  female  figures  (211,  234,  266)  were  found  near 
Tivoli.  215,  a  sarcophagus  upon  which  lies  stretched  a 
figure  of  Adonis,  wounded  in  the  thigh,  with  his  faithful 
dog  by  his  side,  is  the  finest  of  its  kind.  The  splendid 
decorative  frieze  (154-6)  on  the  L.  wall  is  said  to  have  come 
from  Cervetri  (Casre).  There  are  also  good  examples  of 
architectural  terra=cottas,  some  of  archaic  style  (e.g.  170, 
246,  and  the  winged  Pegasus  in  the  middle  of  the  back 
wall). 

Rooms  V-VIII  contain  the  collection  of  Greek  vases. 
These  were  imported  into  Etruria  from  the  eighth  century 
B.C.  onwards  ;  local  imitations  are  few  in  number,  and  easily 
distinguished  by  their  poor  drawing.  The  forms  of  these 
vases  are  admirably  adapted  to  their  uses.  The  ai7iphora^ 
used  for  holding  oil  and  wine,  had  a  wide  mouth  and  two 
upright  handles  ;  the  crater^  or  mixing-bowl,  was  bell- 
shaped,  with  handles  near  the  bottom  ;  the  hydria^  in  which 


340        THE  RIGHT  BANK  OF  THE  TIBER      [xii. 

water  was  carried,  had  two  horizontal  and  one  vertical 
handle,  and  a  shoulder  making  sharp  angles  with  neck  and 
body  ;  the  cenochoe,  or  jug  for  pouring  wine,  had  a  high, 
gracefully  curved  handle  and  often  a  trefoil  mouth  ;  the 
cylix  was  a  shallow,  two-handled  drinking-cup  (deeper  bowls 
were  called  scyphi  or  canthari) ;  the  lekythos^  or  oil-flask, 
was  a  tall  vase  with  a  narrow  neck  and  mouth.  The  pro- 
gress of  Greek  art  is  traceable  in  the  decoration  of  the 
vases.  At  first  we  have  bands  of  animal  and  human  figures, 
almost  purely  ornamental,  in  black  on  a  light  ground: 
then  the  figures  acquire  names  and  the  subjects  are  taken 
from  mythology,  and  the  background  acquires  a  warm  red 
tone,  while  the  black  silhouette  is  enriched  with  inner  mark- 
ings by  means  of  incised  lines.  Towards  500  B.C.  a  great 
innovation  was  made  by  Athenian  potters,  who  reversed 
the  colours,  drawing  the  outlines  of  their  figures  on  the 
red  clay  and  filling  in  the  background  with  black.  The 
artists  of  this  school  often  signed  their  names  on  the  vases 
— especially  the  drinking-cups,  or  cylices;  and  from  the 
study  of  such  works  we  are  able  to  distinguish  the  styles  of 
several  vase-painters  and  to  attribute  unsigned  vases  to 
them.  The  great  merit  of  these  craftsmen  resides  in  the 
sureness  of  touch  with  which  their  drawings  are  executed 
and  their  innate  instinct  for  beauty  of  line,  both  in  single 
figures  and  in  composition  ;  the  conventional  style  of  their 
paintings  recalls  the  severity  of  archaic  sculpture.  The 
progress  of  art  in  the  fifth  century  is  reflected  in  the  grow- 
ing freedom  of  drawing  ;  but  the  gulf  between  high  art  and 
mere  industry  becomes  gradually  wider.  After  400  B.C., 
with  the  economic  decline  of  Athens,  vase-painting  for  ex- 
port gradually  ceases,  and  Southern  Italy  becomes  the 
most  important  centre  of  manufacture. 

In  the  centre  of  Room  V  is  a  circular  vase  without  handles 
(called  a  deinos)  on  a  high  stand.  Its  decoration  consists 
largely  in  rows  of  animals ;  in  the  topmost  band,  however, 
we  have  a  mythical  scene — the  hunt  of  the  Calydonian  boar 
— on  one  side,  and  on  the  other,  a  fight  over  the  body  of  a 
dead  warrior,  which  only  needs  inscriptions  to  make  it  an 


XII.]      THE  RIGHT  BANK  OF  THE  TIBER       341 

illustration  of  Homer.  In  the  wall-cases  we  have  first  of  all 
Corinthian  fabrics,  identified  by  the  alphabet  and  dialect 
of  their  inscriptions ;  notice  5,  which  has  the  names  of  Ajax, 
Hector,  and  yEneas  painted  beside  the  figures,  although 
there  is  no  passage  in  Homer  where  these  three  heroes  are 
brought  together  precisely  in  this  way.  No.  7  shows  us 
a  boar-hunt  with  fancy  names  (Dion,  Polyphamos,  etc.). 
We  then  come  to  Attic  black-figured  vases.  lOA  is  signed 
by  the  artist  Nicosthenes,  a  large  producer  of  vases  dis- 
tinguished rather  by  the  elegance  of  their  form  (they  are 
close  imitations  of  bronze)  than  by  the  interest  of  their  sub- 
jects, which  are  generally  Dionysiac,  12  (Athena  fighting 
with  a  Giant)  has  the  inscription  "  Nicostratus  is  beautiful " 
— typical  of  many  found  on  Attic  vases,  often  giving  the 
names  of  men  celebrated  in  Athenian  history.  In  this 
room  have  lately  been  placed  specimens  of  the  hut=urns 
found  in  the  Alban  hills  (cf  p.  177)  and  stucco  reliefs 
(notice  168)  from  p.  tomb  of  the  second  century  a.d. 

In  the  centre  of  Room  VI,  notice  a  large  Attic  amphora 
(signed  by  Exekias)  ;  on  one  side  are  Ajax  and  Achilles 
playing  at  dice;  on  the  other.  Castor  and  Pollux  returning 
home.  This  is  one  of  the  masterpieces  of  the  black-figured 
technique,  which  in  the  hands  of  Exekias  became  highly 
conventional ;  note  the  elaborate  ornamentation  of  the 
heroes'  cloaks  made  with  incised  lines.  Amongst  the  vases 
in  cases,  notice  51,  which  is  of  Ionic  workmanship  (i.e. 
made  in  W.  Asia  Minor),  and  70,  which  shows  the  sale  of 
an  olive  crop — the  owner  exclaims  :  "  Would  God  I  might 
become  wealthy."  Between  the  windows  are  five  •*  Pana= 
thenaic"  amphoras,  given  as  prizes  in  contests  at  Athens  ; 
and  in  the  window-cases  some  Italian  imitations  of  later 
Greek  vases,  made  in  Campania,  with  Latin  inscriptions. 

In  the  semicircular  gallery  (VII)  are  red-figured  vases 
of  the  larger  forms.  Those  of  Attic  make,  such  as  84,  an 
amphora  with  the  single  figure  of  Achilles  ;  99,  a  hydria 
with  a  representation  of  Thamyris,  the  mythical  Thracian 
singer  (note  the  beginnings  of  an  indication  of  landscape) ; 
97,  Apollo  sailing  over  the  sea  on  his  tripod,  etc.,  contrast 


342        THE  RIGHT  BANK  OF  THE  TIBER      [xii. 

favourably  with  the  large  amphorae  with  volute  handles, 
such  as  89  (grave-monument  and  funeral  banquet),  117 
(Orestes  at  Delphi),  etc.,  made  in  Apulia  and  Campania  in 
later  times.  121  represents  the  most  interesting  class  of 
these  vases — those  with  scenes  from  the  theatre,  and 
especially  from  the  burlesques  of  Greek  mythology  per- 
formed at  Tarentum  and  elsewhere  ;  here  we  see  the  visit  of 
Zeus  to  Alcmene,  the  wife  of  Amphitryon,  who  became  the 
mother  of  Heracles. 

In  Room  VIII  we  see  the  cylices  in  which  the  art  of  the 
Attic  vase  painters  found  its  highest  and  most  characteristic 
expression.  In  the  first  glass  case  are  those  of  the  earlier 
styles ;  notice  (275)  one  in  the  interior  of  which  are  depicted 
Prometheus,  bound  to  a  pillar,  and  his  brother  Atlas  up- 
holding the  world  (inspired  by  a  passage  in  Hesiod).  It  has 
generally  been  supposed  that  the  group  of  vases  to  which 
this  belonged  were  manufactured  in  the  sixth  century  B.C. 
at  Cyrene  in  N.  Africa,  but  recent  excavations  have  shown 
that  a  similar  fabric  was  made  at  Sparta.  Among  the 
black-figured  Attic  cylices  is  one  (258)  signed  by  Pam- 
phaios  ;  notice  the  large  eyes  with  which  the  outside  is 
decorated.  In  the  second  case  are  the  red-figured  cylices  ; 
note  their  increasing  elegance  of  form  as  compared  with 
those  with  black  figures.  Although  signed  vases  by  the 
great  masters  are  wanting,  we  can  recognise  the  style  of 
Brygos,  distinguished  by  the  delicacy  of  its  drawing,  in  225 
(a  symposium),  227  (Hermes  stealing  the  oxen  of  the  sun), 
and  174  (warriors  arming).  A  remarkable  cylix  with  Jason 
vomited  forth  by  the  dragon  might  be  by  Euphronios,  the 
most  original  of  these  vase-painters. 

In  the  centre  of  the  room  stands  a  beautiful  Attic  crater 
of  the  fifth  century  with  polychrome  decoration  on  a 
ground  of  white  pipe-clay,  which  may  help  to  give  us 
a  faint  impression  of  the  painting  of  the  time.  The  main 
subject  is  the  presentation  of  Dionysus  by  Hermes  to 
Silenus  and  the  Nymphs  ;  on  the  back  we  see  three  Nymphs 
or  Muses,  two  with  stringed  instruments  |and  one  about  to 
dance. 


XII.]       THE  RIGHT  BANK  OF  THE  TIBER        343 

In  the  window-cases  is  a  collection  of  ancient  glass  and 
enamels.  The  glass  mosaics  (so-called  '■''  jnillefiori''^  glass) 
have  been  thought  to  represent  the  lost  "  Myrrhine  "  fabric 
spoken  of  by  ancient  writers. 

In  the  wall-cases  are  examples  of  the  black  ware 
ibucchero)  made  in  Etruria  (on  the  upper  shelves),  as  well 
as  Greek  vases  of  various  forms  ;  note  in  the  first  case  a 
beautiful  oenochce  or  jug  with  Menelaus  pursuing  Helen, 
dropping  his  sword  ;  Aphrodite  and  Peitho  ("  Persuasion  "), 
are  in  the  background.  The  subject  is  also  found  on  one  of 
the  metopes  of  -the  Parthenon.  On  the  wall  above  are 
copies  of  Etruscan  wall-paintings,  with  scenes  partly  from 
Greek,  partly  from  Etruscan  legend. 

Returning  to  Room  VI,  we  turn  to  R.  into  Room  IX, 
which  contains  a  large  collection  of  the  bronzes  for  which 
the  Etruscans  were  famous.  (There  are  also  some  speci- 
mens of  Roman  work,  such  as  173,  a  fragmentary  portrait- 
statue,  174,  200,  and  206,  remains  of  a  colossal  statue  of 
Neptune  from  Civitd  Vecchia).  The  great  majority  of  the 
objects  are  articles  of  household  use  or  ornament,  many  of 
which  would  now  be  manufactured  in  less  durable  materials, 
while  none  would  possess  a  tithe  of  the  artistic  value  be- 
longing to  the  products  of  Etruscan  industry.  Notice 
especially,  by  the  back  wall  (57),  a  censer  on  wheels,  (155)  a 
bed,  and  (69)  a  trumpet ;  opposite  the  third  window  (207)  a 
cista  like  that  in  the  Museo  Kircheriano,  engraved  with 
scenes  from  the  Gymnasium  ;  also  the  mirrors  with  en- 
graved designs,  usually  mythological  or  Etruscan  inscrip- 
tions. Statuary  is  well  represented  by  (313)  a  warrior  known 
as  the  Mars  of  Todi,  bearing  an  Umbrian  inscription,  but 
no  doubt  an  Etruscan  work  ;  (329)  opposite  the  middle 
window,  a  statuette  of  a  boy  wearing  the  bulla  or  amulet 
(with  Etruscan  inscription),  and  (283)  a  similar  statuette  of 
a  boy  holding  a  bird.  These  may  be  ascribed  to  the  third 
century  B.C.  16  (by  the  exit)  is  copied  from  a  Greek  type 
of  the  Hellenistic  period. 

The  revolving  case  in  the  centre  of  the  room  contains  the 
treasure  found   in  a  tomb  of  the   seventh  century  B.C.   at 


344        THE  RIGHT  BANK  OF  THE  TIBER      [xil. 

Cervetri  (Cjere),  known  as  the  Regulini-Galassi  tomb. 
Additional  fragments  have  been  recovered  in  recent  excava- 
tions. This  tomb  (like  that  at  Palestrina,  whose  contents 
are  in  the  Museo  Kircheriano)  was  rich  in  gold  ornainents, 
which  show  strong  Oriental  influences,  and  the  silver 
bowls  of  Phoenician  workmanship  are  not  wanting.  The 
bronze  chariot  (205)  is  of  the  fifth  or  fourth  century  B.C. 

In  another  case  are  a  collection  of  objects  found  at 
Pompeii  in  1849.  Amongst  them  is  a  Greek  relief  of  the 
fifth  century,  representing  a  horseman. 

From  Room  IX  we  pass  through  a  corridor  containmg 
some  small  bronzes  from  Ostia  and  a  collection  of  leaden 
water-pipes  in  Room  X.  In  this  are  three  sarcophagi  from 
Cervetri  (one  with  a  representation  of  the  myth  of  Clytem- 
nestra  and  Orestes)  and  pottery,  etc.,  from  Chiusi.  On  the 
walls  are  hung  copies  from  Etruscan  tomb-paintings  which 
illustrate  the  gradual  progress  of  art  under  Greek  influence. 
In  Room  XI,  which  comes  next,  is  a  collection  of  anti- 
quities found  near  Viterbo ;  notice  the  gold  ornaments  of 
Greek  manufacture.  Returning  to  Room  IX  we  pass 
through  the  door  to  the  r.  of  the  bronze  chariot  into  Room 
XII.  Here  we  see,  besides  minor  objects  of  bronze,  ivory, 
etc.,  a  reproduction  (in  a  niche)  of  an  Etruscan  tomb- 
chamber,  with  three  couches  upon  which  the  bodies  of  the 
dead  were  laid. 

Below  the  Etruscan  Museum  is  the  Egyptian  Museum 
(entered  from  the  Sala  a  Croce  Greca).  The  collection  was 
founded  by  Gregory  XVI,  and  is  chiefly  rich  in  monuments 
of  the  imitative  Egyptian  style,  which  became  fashionable 
in  Rome  under  the  Empire.  Such  objects  have  chiefly 
been  found  either  on  the  site  of  the  Iseum  in  the  Campus 
Martins  (p.  175)  or  in  Hadrian's  Villa.  Room  I  contains 
three  sarcophagi  in  black  basalt  of  the  "Saite"  period  (sixth 
century  B.C.),  and  mummy  cases  of  earlier  date.  In  Room 
II  is  (2 5 a)  the  earliest  object  in  the  collection,  a  bust  of 
Mentahotep,  a  king  of  the  Eleventh  Dynastry  (about  B.C. 
2000).  The  Middle  Empire  is  represented  by  (22)  a  frag- 
ment of  a  seated  statute  of  Rameses  II  ;  the  two  lions  (16, 


XII.]       THE  RIGHT  BANK  OF  THE  TIBER       345 

18)  date  from  the  reign  of  the  last  of  the  Pharaohs,  Nektanebo 
II  (358-341  B.C.);  and  12  is  a  statue  of  Ptolemy  II,  the 
founder  of  the  library  of  Alexandria,  which  stands  next  that 
of  his  wife  Arsinoe.  In  Room  III  (113)  a  statuette  of  a  priest 
holding  a  small  shrine  of  Osiris,  is  important  on  account  of 
its  inscription,  which  relates  to  the  Conquest  of  Egypt  by 
Cambyses  (525  B.C.)  The  mummy-cases  in  the  corridor  are 
chiefly  of  the  Saite  period  ;  141  (in  the  centre  case)  is  the 
gravestone  of  an  official  who  had  charge  of  the  Great 
Pyramid.  In  the  room  beyond  are  smaller  objects  (statuettes, 
scarabs, etc. ) ;  Room  VIII  contains  papyri,  Room  X  Assyrian 
and  other  Oriental  monuments.  Room  IX  (to  R.  of  Room  I) 
is  reserved  for  imitative  monuments  executed  at  Rome  in 
the  Egyptian  style  which  was  especially  popular  under 
Hadrian.  The  most  noticeable  is  (36)  a  colossal  figure  of 
Antinous  in  white  marble.  Between  the  doors  is  (56)  a 
figure  of  the  Nile. 

The  Vatican  Library  (entrance  on  the  ground  floor 
opposite  the  stairs  leading  to  the  Museum  of  Sculpture) 
contains  some  important  antiquities.  In  the  Museo  Pro= 
fano,  which  we  first  enter,  are  four  bronze  portraits  ;  they 
represent  (R.)  Augustus — an  excellent  portrait — (l.)  Nero  ; 
the  others  are  Septimius  Severus  and  Balbinus,  the  colleague 
of  Pupienus  (p.  115),  a  good  example  of  third  century  por- 
traiture. 

By  the  entrance  to  the  next  section  are  two  porphyry 
columns  with  figures  in  relief.  We  see  in  each  case  two 
Emperors  (note  the  laurel  wreath,  and  globe  in  L.  hand) 
embracing  each  other.  There  are  two  very  similar  groups 
in  S.  Marco  at  Venice,  and  columns  each  with  one  figure  in 
relief  in  the  Louvre.  They  were  all  probably  made  in 
Egypt  and  symbolise  the  unity  of  East  and  West,  or  merely 
of  two  joint  Emperors.  They  may  be  as  early  as  the  fourth 
century  A.D.,  and  illustrate  the  "  Orientalisation  of  late 
Imperial  art." 

In  the  third  room  of  the  Museo  Cristiano  is  an  important 
collection  of  ancient  paintings.  The  most  famous  of  these 
(on  the  R.  wall)  is  known  as  the  Aldobrandini  marriage. 


346        THE  RIGHT  BANK  OF  THE  TIBER      [xii. 

found  on  the  Esquiline  at  the  beginning  of  the  seventeenth 
century,  and  owned  by  the  family  of  Clement  VIII  until  it 
was  bought  by  Pius  VII.  It  was  long  thought  to  be  copied 
from  some  famous  original,  perhaps  by  Apelles,  the  greatest 
of  Greek  painters,  but  the  motives  seem  to  have  been 
borrowed  by  a  Roman  artist  from  various  sources  and  com- 
bined into  a  picture  with  some  sacrifice  of  clearness.  In 
the  centre  we  see  (probably)  the  bride  in  her  parents'  home, 
listening  to  the  persuasive  utterance  of  Aphrodite  (this  or  a 
similar  group  is  found  in  terra-cottas  of  Hellenistic  date)  ; 
Hymena^us,  the  god  of  marriage,  is  seated  on  the  threshold. 
On  the  R.  are  maidens  about  to  sing  the  epithalainium^  and 
one  pouring  a  libation  ;  to  L.  are  others  who  seem  to  be 
preparing  a  bath  for  the  bride.  The  composition  is  like 
that  of  a  relief,  and  the  figures  are  widely  spaced,  but  this 
is  no  proof  of  early  date.  Almost  more  interesting  are  the 
landscapes  from  the  Odyssey  (r.  and  l.  walls)  which 
formed  a  kind  of  continuous  picture  divided  into  sections 
by  scarlet  pilasters  in  the  upper  part  of  a  wall.  They  were 
found  on  the  Esquiline  in  1840,  in  a  house  of  the  early 
Imperial  period,  and  were  probably  executed  under  Augustus 
or  Tiberius.  We  know  that  it  was  a  fashion  at  that  time  to 
decorate  walls  with  cycles  of  mythological  paintings,  and 
here  we  have  an  example  of  this  practice  ;  but  what  we 
notice  is  that  the  landscape,  not  the  figures,  is  all-important 
to  the  artist,  and  this  shows  that  the  "architectural"  style 
of  wall-painting  (cf  p.  91)  sprang  from  the  effort  to  open 
up  imaginary  prospects  into  surrounding  space.  We  begin 
with  a  series  of  three  pictures  of  Odysseus  and  his  comrades 
in  the  country  of  the  Lasstrygones  (two  on  L.,  the  third  on 
R.  wall).  In  the  first  we  see  the  ships  of  Odysseus  in  the 
offing,  and  three  of  his  companions  greeted  on  landing  by 
the  giant  daughter  of  the  king,  who  is  carrying  a  pitcher. 
Notice  the  figures  of  the  mountain-god,  the  nymph  of  the 
stream,  the  boatman  who  personifies  the  shore  (as  the 
Greek  inscription  above  his  head  shows),  and  the  three 
wind-gods  in  the  sky.  We  shall  find  these  supernatural 
denizens  of  the  landscape  in  other  scenes.     The  flocks  and 


XII.]       THE  RIGHT  BANK  OF  THE  TIBER       347 

herds  seem  to  owe  their  presence  to  a  reminiscence  of 
Homer's  description  of  the  country  of  the  Lasstrygones, 
where  the  nights  were  so  short  that  the  outgoing  and  home- 
commg  herdsmen  met  on  the  way  to  pasture.  In  the 
second  picture  the  giants,  led  by  their  king  Antiphates, 
are  attacking  the  crew  of  Odysseus,  some  of  whom  have 
already  been  slaughtered.  Pan  and  a  Nymph,  seated  on  a 
rock,  personify  the  "  Pastures."  In  the  third  scene  the 
Lsestrygones  are  destroying  the  ships  of  Odysseus  with 
huge  blocks  of  stone.  In  this  picture  the  landscape  is 
particularly  well  treated.  The  following  scene,  representing 
the  voyage  of  Odysseus,  forms  a  transition  to  the  next 
episode  in  his  wanderings — the  visit  to  Circe,  whose  place 
(in  the  next  picture)  occupies  the  central  point  in  the  wall 
(notice  the  perspective  of  the  pilasters,  which  emphasises 
this).  On  the  L.  we  see  Odysseus  greeted  by  Circe  at  the 
door  of  her  house  ;  in  the  centre  the  sorceress,  who  has 
failed  to  cast  her  spell  over  him,  is  kneeling  at  the  feet  of 
the  hero.  There  was  another  illustration  of  the  story  of 
Circe  in  the  next  panel,  but  it  is  almost  obliterated.  We 
now  come  (L.  wall)  to  two  of  the  most  interesting  of  the 
landscapes — those  which  show  Odysseus  in  the  Land  of 
Shades.  In  the  first  of  these  we  see  his  ship  to  L.,  then  an 
archway  of  rock  which  represents  the  entrance  of  Hades. 
Within  is  a  scene  dimly  lighted  by  the  rays  which  pass 
through  the  arch.  Odysseus  has  sacrificed  the  ram,  and 
the  Shades  are  pressing  forward  to  taste  its  blood.  In 
front  of  them  is  the  prophet  Tiresias,  from  whom  Odysseus 
is  inquiring  as  to  his  destiny.  Phaedra,  Ariadne,  and  Leda 
are  close  behind  him.  The  green  waters  beside  which  they 
stand  are  those  of  Acheron,  and  the  river-god  himself  sits 
on  the  bank.  In  the  last  scene  (only  half  preserved)  we 
see  the  torments  of  famous  criminals.  The  daughters  of 
Danaus  are  pouring  water  into  the  vessel  which  never  is 
filled  (they  are  not  mentioned  by  Homer,  but  have  been 
added  by  the  artist)  ;  Tityus  is  stretched  at  full  length,  with 
vultures  gnawing  his  body.  Sisyphus  is  rolling  his  stone  ; 
and  Orion  (for  it  must  be  he,  though  the  inscription  seems 


348        THE  RIGHT  BANK  OF  THE  TIBER      [xii. 

to  give  a  different'  name)]  is  engaged  in  the  endless  pursuit 
of  his  prey. 

Below  these  paintings  are  hung  a  series  of  female  figures, 
known  as  the  heroines  of  Tor  Marancia  (an  ancient  villa 
about  one  and  a  half  miles  from  the  Porta  S.  Sebastiano, 
near  the  Via  della  Sette  Chiese).  Though  poor  in  execution, 
and  probably  not  earlier  in  date  than  the  third  century  a!d., 
they  doubtless  reproduce  earlier  types,  for  they  form  a 
gallery  of  sinners,  driven  to  crime  or  suicide  by  overmaster- 
ing passion,  the  conception  of  which  must  date  back  to 
Alexandrine  times.  We  see  them  all,  however  (except 
Myrrha),  in  the  moment  preceding  the  commission  of  the 
fatal  act,  which  is  only  hinted  at  by  some  significant  detail. 
On  the  back  wall  are  Pasiphce  with  the  cow  fashioned  by 
Daedalus,  and  Myrrha,  flying  in  horror  from  an  unseen 
pursuer  (her  father) ;  to  R.  Phaedra  holding  the  rope  with 
which  she  is  about  to  hang  herself,  and  Scylla  (who  betrayed 
her  father  to  Minos  by  cutting  off  the  lock  of  hair  upon 
which  his  safety  depended)  standing  on  the  walls  of  Myara 
with  the  fatal  lock  in  her  hand.  On  the  L.  wall  is  Canace, 
holding  the  sword  with  which  she  is  about  to  stab  herself — 
the  attitude  is  that  of  the  daughter  of  Pelias  on  the  relief  in 
the  Lateran,  p.  233  ;  and  an  unnamed  figure  which  does  not 
(as  was  once  thought)  belong  to  this  series,  but  was  found  at 
S.  Basilio,  on  the  Via  Nomentana.  It  is  the  work  of  abetter 
artist  than  the  painter  of  the  "  heroines,"  but  has  suffered 
from  restoration. 

There  are  also  some  interesting  paintings  found  at  Ostia 
in  this  room.  The  most  interesting  are  those  which  represent 
processions  of  children.  In  one  we  see  some  approaching 
a  statue  of  Artemis  (Diana)  with  lighted  torches,  while 
others  are  carrying  busts  and  bunches  of  grapes  on  poles. 
In  the  other,  the  procession  is  being  formed,  and  a  ship  on 
wheels  is  depicted  to  L.  The  "Ship  of  Isis"  was  thus 
conveyed  in  a  spring  festival  at  Rome.  Between  these 
paintings  is  one  of  a  chariot-race  with  Cupids  as  drivers. 
There  are  also  a  picture  of  a  ship  being  laden  with  grain 
(her  name  is  Isis  Geminiand)  and  a  decorative  figure  of  Mars. 


XII.]       THE  RIGHT  BANK  OF  THE  TIBER       349 

Before  returning  to  the  L.  bank,  we  may  visit  the  Man= 
soleumof  Hadrian,  better  known  as  the  Castel  S.  Angelo. 
Hadrian  chose  for  his  tomb  a  site  in  the  "  Gardens  of 
Domitia,"  and  built  a  new  bridge,  the  Pons  /Eliiis^  now  the 
Ponte  S.  Angelo,  as  an  approach  to  it.  This  took  the  place 
of  a  bridge  built  by  Nero  about  a  hundred  yards  down 
stream,  the  remains  of  which  are  only  visible  at  low  water  ; 
this  fell  into  disrepair,  and  was  destroyed  (at  the  latest)  by 
Aurelian,  as  it  would  have  weakened  his  chain  of  defences 
(p.  361).  Excavations  in  1892  showed  that  the  Pons  yElius 
had  originally  eight  arches,  and  was  approached  by  a 
sloping  road  from  the  L.  bank.  Both  the  bridge  and  the 
Mausoleum  were  practically  completed  in  A.D,  136,  and  two 
years  later  Hadrian  was  buried  there.  It  was  used  as  the 
burial-place  of  the  Antonine  emperors  and  their  families,  as 
well  as  by  Septimius  Severus  and  Caracalla,  who  claimed 
a  fictitious  descent  from  Commodus.  The  later  history  oj 
the  monument,  from  its  conversion  into  a  fortress,  cannot 
here  be  traced.  The  mediaeval  alterations  and  the  building 
of  the  Appariamcnto  Papal e  by  the  Renaissance  Popes,  have 
left  but  little  of  the  structure  in  its  original  form.  If  we 
enter  by  the  gateway  opposite  the  Ponte  S.  Angelo  and  turn 
to  L.  we  shall  find  a  small  museum  in  which,  beside  busts 
of  Hadrian  and  Antoninus  Pius  and  architectural  fragments, 
there  is  a  restored  model  by  Colonel  Borgatti  which  will 
give  the  traveller  an  excellent  idea  of  the  ancient  monument, 
with  its  square  base  (on  the  top  of  which  the  modern  passage 
runs),  its  massive  cyclinder,  faced  with  marble,  decorated 
with  pilasters  and  a  cornice  supporting  a  row  of  statues,^ 
its  tumulus  of  earth  planted  with  cypresses,  and  the  central 
superstructure  upon  which  a  colossal  statue  of  Hadrian  in 
a  four-horse  chariot  once  stood.  Such  at  least  is  the  most 
probable  reconstruction,  though  the  details  must  be  uncertain. 

^  We  are  told  that  these  statues  were  hurled  down  by  the 
defenders  of  the  Mausoleum  upon  the  heads  of  the  besieging 
Goths  in  a.d.  537  ;  but  it  is  impossible  that  the  "  Barberini  Faun" 
at  Munich,  which  was  found  near  the  base  of  the  monument,  can 
have  been  one  of  these. 


350        THE  RIGHT  BANK  OF  THE  TIBER      [xii. 

Notice  the  fragments  of  the  marble  frieze,  decorated  with 
ox- heads  and  garlands,  which  ran  round  the  cylinder. 

Next  observe  that  the  cylinder  is  faced  with  huge  blocks 
oi peperino^  which,  however,  were  hidden  by  marble  slabs,  of 
which  only  a  few  remain  on  the  E.  side.  We  enter  a  passage 
walled  with  blocks  of  travertine,  which  were  once  faced  with 
slabs  of  giallo  antico^  at  the  end  of  which  is  a  niche  for  a 
colossal  statue.  To  the  R.  is  a  spiral  passage,  once  richly 
decorated  with  pilasters  and  cornice  of  marble  and  paved  with 
mosaic,  which  after  making  a  complete  circuit  of  the  cylinder 
brings  us  to  the  central  tomb=chamber,  in  the  niches  on 
either  side  of  which  Hadrian  and  his  wife  were  buried.  The 
modern  stairway  crosses  the  chamber  on  a  sloping  bridge 
and  soon  brings  us  to  the  Cortile  delle  Palle,  from  which 
we  ascend  to  the  Papal  apartments  ;  what  we  here  see  belongs 
to  the  history  of  mediaeval,  not  to  that  of  classical  Rome. 


XIII 

THE  VILLA   Dl  PAPA  GIULIO 

rnr^HIS  is  the  villa  built  for  Julius  III  (1550-1555)  by 
L  X  Vignola,  and  transformed  in  1888  into  a  museum  for 
remains  found  in  the  "  Provincia  di  Roma."  The  greater 
part  of  the  antiquities  which  it  contains  were  found  in  the 
territory  of  Falerii,  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Civita  Castel- 
lana,  forty  miles  to  the  N.  of  Rome.  The  Falisci,  who  in- 
habited this  district,  were  the  nearest  kinsfolk  of  the  Latins, 
and  their  dialect  closely  resembled  Latin.  Falerii  was  taken 
by  the  Romans  in  396  B.C.  and  its  inhabitants  were  removed 
in  241  B.C.  to  a  new  town  on  a  lower  site]. 

To  reach  the  Villa  di  Papa  Giulio  we  take  the  Vicolo  dell' 
Arco  Oscuro,  a  turning  on  the  R.  from  the  Via  Flaminia, 
about  half  a  mile  outside  the  Porta  del  Popolo.  In  the  room 
to  R.  of  the  entrance  is  a  fine  Etruscan  sarcophagus  from 
Cervetri,  with  the  figures  of  man  and  wife  on  the  cover.  In  the 
cases  are  vases,  bronzes,  etc.,  from  Corchiano  (near  Falerii). 
On  the  walls  are  copies  of  Etruscan  tomb  paintings  and  of 
a  sarcophagus  (now  in  the  museum  at  Florence)  with  paint- 
ings of  a  battle  between  Greeks  and  Amazons,  which  are 
purely  Greek  in  spirit  and  are  valuable  for  the  history  of 
Greek  pointing.  To  L.  of  the  entrance  is  a  room  containing 
architectural  terra=cottas  from  the  temples  at  Falerii  ; 
also  a  coffin  made  of  a  hollowed  tree-trunk  (like  the  children's 
coffins  found  in  the  early  cemetery  near  the  Forum)  from 
Gabii  (in  the  Campagna). 

From  the  corridor  a  staircase  (on  the  L.)  leads  to  the  upper 
floor.  Here  the  objects  discovered  in  the  Faliscan  territory 
are  arranged  in  chronological  order,  and  furnish  an  epitome 


352  THE  VILLA  DI  PAPA  GIULIO  [xiii. 

of  the  progress  of  material  civilisation  in  central  Italy  from 
the  Early  Iron  Age  onwards.  In  the  first  room  (Cases  I-V) 
are  vases  of  native  Italian  fabrics,  both  black  and  red  ; 
in  Case  VI  we  find  a  few  specimens  of  the  ware  generally 
called  '*  Proto=Corinthian,*'  exported  from  Greece  at  the 
beginning  of  the  colonising  period  (700  B.C.  and  earlier).  In 
Case  VII  we  come  to  Italian  imitations  of  the  black=figured 
vases  such  as  we  saw  in  the  Museo  Gregoriano.  Notice  in 
the  centre  case  a  hut=urn  in  bronze,  as  well  as  ornaments 
in  glass,  gold,  and  amber. 

In  the  second  room  are  Greek  vases  (black-figured  in 
Case  XI  to  L.,  red-figured  in  the  following  cases).  The 
gradual  progress  of  the  art  of  vase  painting  is  well-illustrated. 
Notice  as  a  fine  example  of  the  severe  style  a  fragment 
(close  to  the  door  leading  into  the  corridor)  which  belonged 
to  a  psykter  or  wine-cooler  with  high  stem,  representing 
Centaurs  at  war  with  LapithcTs  ;  observe  the  use  of  light  brown 
varnish  for  shading.  In  the  centre  case  is  a  beautiful  astra- 
galos,  or  vase  in  the  shape  of  a  knuckle-bone,  signed  by  the 
artist  Syriskos,  and  others  of  the  finest  period  (fifth  century 
B.C.)  In  Case  XXII  is  a  skull  with  gold  settings  for  false 
teeth. 

In  Room  III  we  find  Faliscan  imitations  of  Greek  vases, 
which  may  be  distinguished  by  their  coaser  drawing  and  by 
the  pale  colour  of  the  clay.  Note  also  the  sensuous  tendency 
of  Italian  art  and  its  marked  preference  for  Dionysiac  sub- 
jects. We  often  find  pairs  of  vases.  Thus  two  cylices  bear 
the  mscuT^txonfoied vino pipafo  {ovpafo)^  era  carefo^  "to-day  I 
will  drink  wine,  to-morrow  I  shall  go  without  it,"  and  two 
sfamnoi  (wide-mouthed  vases  with  small  handles)  have  an 
identical  subject  (Ganymede,  Jupiter,  Cupid,  and  Minerva — 
names  inscribed).  In  the  end  cases  are  vases  with  a  silver 
glaze  on  which  were  gilded  decorations  in  relief. 

To  L.  at  the  end  we  enter  a  cabinet  containing  the  trea- 
sure found  in  the  tomb  of  a  priestess  at  Todi  (where  the  so- 
called  "Mars"  of  the  Museo  Gregoriano  was  discovered, 
p.  343).  Besides  the  gold  ornaments,  some  of  which  were 
sewn  on  to  a  dress,  notice  the  fine  bronzes  in  the  central 


XIII.]  THE  VILLA  DI  PAPA  GIULIO  353 

case  (lamp-stand,  jug,  vase  with  figure  of  Heracles  as  handle, 
drinking-cup  with  double  herm  as  base). 

In  an  inner  cabinet  are  some  remarkable  specimens  of 
terra=cotta  sculpture  from  the  pediments  of  temples  at 
Falerii.  Notice  the  fragments  of  limbs  and  drapery  with 
dark  painted  background  and  a  female  figure  with  a  richly 
patterned  mantle  ;  these  are  of  early  date.  Much  finer  are 
two  figures,  one  male  one  an  Aphrodite,  belonging  to  the 
Hellenistic  period,  and  but  little  inferior  to  original  Greek 
work. 

-  Returning  to  Room  1 1  we  pass  (to  R.)  into  the  upper  corridor 
where  are  several  cases  of  vases,  bronzes,  etc.,  arranged 
chronologically,  from  Narce,  an  ancient  town  near  Faleriif 
and  other  sites.  The  vases  in  Case  LXVI  illustrate  the 
Corinthian  pottery  which  gradually  give  place  to  Attic 
fabrics. 

In  the  side  court  (to  R.  of  the  fountain)  a  model  of  a 
temple  has  been  set  up,  with  the  aid  of  remains  found  at 
Alatri  (ancient  Aletrium,  S.  of  Rome)  ;  this  illustrates  the 
use  of  painted  terra-cotta  in  early  Italian  aichitecture  and 
its  vivid  colouring. 


XIV 

THE  WALLS  OF  ROME 

ON  the  " map  of  historic  Rome  "  (p.  xx)  are  traced  both 
the  lines  of  fortification  by  which  Rome  was  enclosed. 
More  than  six  centuries  separate  the  earlier  from  the  later 
wall ;  and  while  the  latter  is  for  the  most  part  in  excellent 
preservation  (save  where  it  has  been  destroyed  in  modern 
times),  the  former  is  only  traceable  in  isolated  fragments. 

It  has  already  been  explained  (p.  7)  that  the  tradition 
which  ascribed  the  great  wall  of  Early  Rome  to  the  Etruscan 
king,  Servius  Tullius,  cannot  be  maintained.  Apart  from 
the  evidence  afforded  by  the  extant  remains,  it  is  clear  that 
when  the  Gauls  took  and  sacked  Rome  in  390  B.C.,  it  was,  as 
a  whole,  an  unwalled  city ;  the  Capitol,  no  doubt,  had  its 
own  defences,  and  the  earliest  walls  of  the  Palatine  (p.  88) 
must  have  been  in  existence  ;  but  for  the  rest  Rome  was,  at 
most,  protected  by  earthen  ramparts.  Livy  tells  us  that  in 
388  B.C.,  two  years  after  the  retreat  of  the  Gauls,  the  Capitol 
was  fortified  in  opus  quadratum^  which  surely  implies  that 
its  earlier  defences  were  less  solid.  Again,  in  378  B.C.  we 
hear  of  a  contract  for  the  building  of  walls  in  opus  quad- 
raium^  and  we  may  fairly  conclude  that  this  refers  to  some 
part  of  the  existing  "  Servian  "  wall,  which  was  then  gradually 
brought  to  completion.  We  saw  that  a  wall  built  in  the 
same  style  may  be  traced  at  various  points  on  the  Palatine, 
and  were  led  to  the  conclusion  that  it  formed  an  inner 
citadel. 

We  find  no  trace  of  the  "  Servian  "  wall  between  the  Tiber 
and  the  Capitol ;  there  were  two  gates  here,  one  by  the  river 
and  one  on  the  line  of  the  Via  Bocca  della  Veritd.    Remains 
354 


XIV.]  THE  WALLS  OF  ROME  35^^ 

of  it  exist  on  the  Capitol,  especially  in  the  Via  delle  tre  pile  ; 
but  the  building  of  Trajan's  Forum  destroyed  every  trace  of 
it  in  the  depression  between  Capitol  and  Quirinal.  On  this 
latter  hill  it  has  been  discovered  at  several  points.  In  the 
Piazza  Magnanapoli  a  small  piece  came  to  light  when  the 
Via  Nazionale  was  laid  ;  it  is  enclosed  in  an  iron  railing 
and  labelled  as  the  "  wall  of  the  kings  "  ;  and  in  the  Palazzo 
Antonelli  (No.  158,  Via  Nazionale,  on  the  staircase  to  R.) 
may  be  seen  an  archway  which  (it  has  been  thought)  may 
have  been  one  of  its  gates — the  Porta  Sanqualis.  Other 
fragments  are  in  the  Colonna  Gardens,  and  in  those  of  S. 
Susanna  and  S.  Maria  della  Vittoria,  and  a  small  portion 
was  recently  discovered  in  clearing  the  site  for  the  new 
Ministry  of  Agriculture.  (Here,  beside  the  "Servian"  wall, 
were  found  remains  of  another  and  an  earlier  one,  made  of 
the  volcanic  stone  called  "  nenfro.") 

It  has  been  explained  that  the  wall  took  a  sharp  turn  to 
the  S.  near  the  CoUine  Gate  (see  p.  197) ;  and  from  this 
point  the  builders  could  no  longer  take  advantage  of  the 
natural  escarpment  of  the  hill,  and  were  forced  to  raise  more 
elaborate  defences,  consisting  in  an  agger  or  embankment, 
with  retaining  walls  and  a  ditch  on  the  outside.  To  this 
section  belong  the  extensive  remains  which  are  to  be  seen  in 
the  yard  of  the  goods  station,  and  are  worthy  of  a  visit.  The 
embankment,  which  was  about  one  hundred  feet  wide  and 
fifty  feet  high,  seems  originally  to  have  had  a  retaining  wall 
on  the  inside  only  ;  this  was  built  of  greenish  tufa  and  much 
restored  in  later  times.  The  outer  retaining^wall,  which 
is  here  well  preserved,  reaches  a  height  of  about  forty  feet, 
and  is  a  fine  example  of  Roman  opus  quadratu7n  in  alternate 
courses  of  "headers"  and  "stretchers."  It  is  clearly  seen 
how  it  was  built  m  sections  one  hundred  and  twenty  feet  in 
length,  doubtless  let  out  to  different  contractors.  There 
seem  to  have  been  bonding-walls  at  intervals  running 
through  the  embankment. 

We  have  met  with  further  traces  of  the  "  Servian  "  eticeinte 
on  the  Esquiline  at  the  Arch  of  Gallienus  (p.  221)  and  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  the  Auditorium  of  Maecenas.     From  here 


THE  WALLS  OF  ROME  [xiv. 

Its  course  is  hard  to  trace,  since  the  buildings  of  the  Empire 
have  obliterated  its  remains  on  the  Caslian  and  in  the 
valleys  on  either  side  thereof ;  but  there  is  a  large  piece  of 
wall  on  the  Aventine,  about  one  hundred  feet  in  length, 
referred  to  on  p.  263.  Notice,  however,  that,  as  we  see  it,  it 
has  been  subjected  to  much  restoration  and  alteration  in 
later  times.  The  wide  arch  or  window  is  no  part  of  the 
original  plan,  and  the  concrete  backing,  which  may  be  seen 
by  climbing  the  bank  at  the  side,  is  a  proof  that  it  was 
utilised  as  part  of  a  late  Republican  or  early  Imperial 
structure. 

The  walls  of  Aurelian  illustrate  the  ultimate  develop- 
ment of  the  science  of  fortification  in  antiquity,  just  as  the 
'^  Servian  "  walls  are  typical  of  its  earlier  stages.  They  were 
begun  in  A.D.  271,  when  Aurelian  had  only  just  succeeded  in 
stemming  the  tide  of  barbarian  invasion  which  had  swept 
over  Northern  Italy,  and  was  about  to  depart  on  his  first 
expedition  against  Palmyra  ;  and  though  pushed  on  with  the 
utmost  haste,  they  were  not  completed  until  the  reign  of 
Probus  (a.d.  276-82).  In  A.D.  402  the  defences  were  restored 
by  Honorius  in  face  of  the  imminent  danger  from  the  Goths  ; 
by  this  time  immense  accumulations  of  rubbish  had  gathered 
about  the  walls,  and  these  were  not  removed,  but  merely 
levelled,  so  that  the  thresholds  of  some  of  the  gates  were 
raised  by  several  feet.  The  walls  were  again  restored  by 
Belisarius,  and  by  several  of  the  Popes  ;  and  it  was  left  for 
the  municipality  of  Modern  Rome  to  begin  the  process  of 
demolition,  which  (though  for  the  present  checked)  will,  it  is 
to  be  feared,  lead  in  time  to  their  disappearance. 

Augustus  had  divided  the  city  into  fourteen  "regions"  ; 
and  the  circuit  was  enclosed  by  a  customs  barrier  at  which 
an  octroi  was  levied.  Where  strategical  reasons  did  not 
forbid  it,  Aurelian  followed  the  line  of  this  barrier  ;  and 
inscriptions  relating  to  the  octroi  have  been  found  close 
to  some  of  the  gates  in  his  wall.  But  some  portions  of  the 
fourteen  regions  lay  outside  his  line  of  defence.  For  ex- 
ample, the  obelisk  which  now  stands  on  the  Pincio  was 
found  at  some  distance  outside  the  Porta  MaggiorCy  where 


XIV.]  THE   WALLS  OF  ROME  357 

it  had  been  set  up  by  Hadrian  at  the  entrance  of  the 
cenotaph  of  Antinous  ;  and  this,  we  are  told,  marked  the 
city  boundary.  Again,  the  first  region  of  Augustus  took  in 
the  Appian  Way  as  far  as  the  crossing  of  the  brook  Almo 
(now  the  Marrana),  which  is  a  few  minutes'  walk  from  the 
Porta  S.  Sebastiano  ;  while  in  the  Trastevere  Aurelian  only 
fortified  a  triangular  section  of  the  fourteenth  region,  having 
its  apex  at  the  gate  {Porta  Aurelia)  which  is  now  the 
Porta  S.  Pancrazio. 

The  line  of  the  walls  was  therefore  traced  with  strict 
reference  to  military  requirements  ;  but  great  skill  was 
shown  by  the  architects  both  in  adapting  existing  buildings 
to  their  use  and  in  avoiding  (as  far  as  possible)  the  necessity 
of  expropriating  private  owners  :  the  ring  of  Imperial  parks 
of  which  we  have  spoken  above  (p.  10)  furnished  a  great 
part  of  the  site. 

If  we  leave  Rome  by  the  Porta  del  Popolo,  which  has 
taken  the  place  of  the  ancient  Porta  Flaminia,  and  tiirn 
to  the  R.  by  the  Via  delle  Mura,  we  shall  find  ourselves  at 
the  foot  of  the  lofty  substructures  which  support  the  Passeg- 
giata  del  Pincio.  Though  their  ancient  aspect  has  been 
altered  by  modern  buttresses,  we  can  see  that  they  consisted 
in  a  series  of  high  arcades,  dating  not  from  the  time  of 
Aurelian,  but  from  the  Early  Empire  ;  they  were,  in  fact, 
raised  by  the  AciHi  Glabriones,  whose  park  on  the  Pincian 
has  already  been  mentioned  (p.  190),  and  were  incorporated 
by  the  architects  of  Aurelian  in  his  wall.  At  the  N.E. 
angle  is  a  piece  of  wall  in  opus  reticulatum  which  is  inclined 
at  an  angle  of  6°  or  7°  to  the  perpendicular  and  seems  to 
threaten  collapse.  It  has  been  in  this  condition  since  the 
time  of  Procopius  (sixth  century  A.D.)  and  is  called  the 
Muro  Torto.  When  the  existing  substructures  ended, 
the  wall  was  carried  along  the  slope  of  the  Pincian  and 
through  the  Horti  Sallustiani  (p.  194),  which  was  an 
Imperial  park ;  the  Porta  Pinciana  was  not  one  of  the 
principal  gates,  but  a  postern,  and  owes  its  present  form  to 
Honorius.  It  was  the  scene  of  a  gallant  stand  made  by 
Belisarius  against  the  Goths  in  A.D.  537.     From  this  point 


358  THE  WALLS  OF  ROME  [xiv. 

to  the  Porta  Salaria  the  construction  of  the  wall  (which  cut 
athwart  the  ancient  lines  of  streets  and  buildings)  can  be 
studied  both  from  within  (Via  Campania)  and  from  without 
(Corso  d' Italia),  and,  it  may  be  added,  the  breaches  which 
have  been  so  ruthlessly  made  in  this  section  in  recent  years 
have  at  least  shown  something  of  its  internal  structure.  It 
is  built  of  brick-faced  concrete  with  filling  chiefly  of  tufa, 
but  also  of  sculptured  and  architectural  fragments,  and  is 
on  the  average  about  thirteen  feet  thick.  For  about  the 
same  height  it  is  massive  ;  above  this  there  is  a  sentinel's 
passage  with  a  continuous  arcade  on  the  inner  side,  about 
twenty  feet  high.  The  roof  of  this  passage  formed  an  open 
platform,  with  a  crenellated  parapet  now  destroyed.  At 
intervals  of  about  thirty  yards  there  are  rectangular  towers 
which  project  about  ten  feet  on  the  outside  of  the  wall ; 
they  had  two  chambers — the  lower  level  with  the  sentinel's 
passage,  the  upper  with  the  platform,  and  originally  rose 
some  twenty  feet  above  the  top  of  the  curtain.^  This  system 
of  defences  agrees  with  the  rules  laid  down  by  ancient 
writers  on  the  art  of  fortification — except  that  they  recom- 
mend that  the  sentinel's  passage  should  be  separated  from 
the  towers  by  drawbridges. 

The  towers  of  the  Porta  Salaria  were  destroyed  in  1871, 
and  it  was  then  found  that  three  tombs — one  that  of  the 
"infant  prodigy,"  Q.  Sulpicius  Maximus  (p.  140) — had  been 
enclosed  in  the  masonry  of  the  wall.  Another  tomb,  that  of 
the  famous  orator  Q.  Haterius,  who  died  in  a.d.  26,  was 
found  to  be  enclosed  in  the  eastern  tower  of  the  Porta 
Nomentana,  destroyed  in  1827  (a  little  to  the  W.  of  the 
modern  Porta,  Pia).  Beyond  the  Porta  Pia  (Viale  del  Policli- 
nico)  are  two  small  posterns  (closed)  in  the  wall,  which  here 
skirts  the  garden  of  the  British  Embassy ;  a  breach  was 
made  in  1892  for  the  passage  of  the  Via  Montebello,  and  it 
was  found  that  a  house  of  the  first  century  a.d.  had  been 
simply  buried  in  concrete,  cut  down  to  the  thickness  of  the 
wall  and  incorporated  therein. 

^  One  of  the  best  preserved  is  between  the  opening  of  the  Via 
Piemonte  and  that  of  the  Via  Basilicata. 


XIV.]  THE  WALLS  OF  ROME  359 

We  now  come  to  the  remains  of  the  Castra  Praetoria, 
or  camp  of  the  praetorian  guard,  built  in  A.D.  23  by 
Tiberius  at  the  suggestion  of  his  favourite,  Sejanus — a 
visible  symbol  of  the  reign  of  the  sword — but  partly  dis- 
mantled by  Constantine,  who  finally  disbanded  the  prae- 
torians in  A.D.  312.  Three  sides  of  its  walls  were  made 
part  of  the  defences  by  Aurelian  builders,  who  raised  their 
height  some  ten  to  fifteen  feet.  If  we  go  round  the  outside 
of  the  camp  we  can  easily  trace  the  line  of  demarcation 
between  the  earlier  and  later  brickwork,  and  also  see  the 
remains  of  two  of  the  original  gateways  (blocked  up),  one 
on  the  N.  and  the  other  on  the  E.  side.  The  S.  side  was 
restored  in  late  times  with  materials  taken  from  ancient 
buildings  in  the  neighbourhood. 

At  the  S.W.  angle  of  the  praetorian  camp  was  a  gate 
(now  closed)  of  which  the  name  is  unknown  ;  if  we  follow 
the  Via  delle  Mura  we  shall  come  to  the  Porta  S.  Lorenzo 
which  has  taken  the  place  of  the  ancient  Porta  Tiburtina. 
Turning  to  the  R.,  inside  the  gate,  we  shall  see  an  arch,  now 
blocked,  and  filled  up  with  earth  almost  to  the  springing  of 
its  vault.  From  its  inscription  we  learn  that  it  was  origin- 
ally built  by  Augustus  to  carry  the  triple  aqueduct  of  the 
Aqua  Marcia,  Tepula,  and  Julia  (p.  224)  ;  on  the  raised  level 
stood  an  inner  arch  belonging  to  Aurelian's  fortification, 
bearing  an  inscription  which  recorded  its  restoration  by 
Honorius.  When  the  modern  gateway  was  built  it  was 
found  that  a  nyrnphaum  or  ornamental  fountain  had  been 
enclosed  in  the  wall,  and  the  statues  which  adorned  it  left 
standing  / 

From  this  point  to  the  Porta  Praenestina  {Porta  Mag- 
giore\  described  on  p.  222,  the  aqueduct  just  mentioned  was 
made  use  of  by  the  builders  of  Aurelian,  we  can  see  its  re- 
mains on  the  inside  near  the  Barriera  Tiburtina. 

Again,  from  the  Porta  Maggiore  to  the  angle  N.E.  of  S. 
Croce  in  Gerusalemme,  the  double  aqueduct  of  the  Claudia 
and  Anio  Novus  may  be  seen  to  form  part  of  the  wall  (from 
the  garden  on  the  L.  of  S.  Croce).  We  then  come  to  the 
Amphitheatrum  Castrense,  as  to  which  see  p.  225,  and  hence 


36o  THE   WALLS  OF  ROME  [xiv. 

the  wall  ran  straight^  to  the  Porta  S.  Giovanni  (dating  from 
1574),  beyond  which  is  the  ancient  Porta  Asinaria  (closed). 

Below  the  Lateran,  where  the  wall  is  again  buttressed  as 
it  is  under  the  Villa  Medici — in  spite  of  much  modern  re- 
storation, the  foundations  of  the  buttresses  are  ancient- 
there  are  clearly  visible  remains  of  ancient  buildings,  no 
doubt  belonging  to  the  palace  of  the  Laterani,  and  dating — 
to  judge  by  their  brickwork — from  the  time  of  the  Severi  ;  a 
part  of  this  palace  was  destroyed  by  Aurelian.  The  course 
of  the  wall,  which  skirts  the  edge  of  the  Caelian,  now  be- 
comes somewhat  irregular  :  there  are  fine  views  both  of  the 
Campagna  and  of  the  buildings  and  trees  of  the  Caelian. 
We  pass  the  closed  gates— the  Porta  Metrovia  (or  Metroni) 
and  the  Porta  Latina,  with  well-preserved  round  towers — 
and  then  come  to  the  Porta  S.  Sebastiano,  the  ancient  Porta 
Appia,  largely  rebuilt  by  Honorius  with  the  remains  of  the 
Temple  of  Mars  without  the  walls.  Some  way  further  on 
we  see  a  gateway  built  into  Aurelian's  wall  which  dates  from 
the  first  century  A.D.,  and  belonged  to  a  villa.  For  a  time  it 
served  as  a  postern,  but  was  blocked  up  by  Honorius.  It 
was  flanked  by  Corinthian  half-columns,  carrying  a  frieze 
and  architrave,  all  of  travertine. 

The  construction  of  a  bastion  by  Antonio  di  Sangallo  for 
Paul  III  has  removed  all  trace  of  the  gate  by  which  the  Via 
Ardeatina  issued  from  the  city,  and  we  next  come  to  the 
Porta  Ostiensis  (Porta  S.  Paolo),  the  towers  of  which  are 
again  due  to  Honorius'  restoration  ;  just  beyond  it  is  the 
Pyramid  of  Cestius,  a  tomb  which,  as  is  recorded  by  the 
inscription  on  the  E.  side,  was  built  in  330  days  for  a  certain 
Gains  Cestius  Epulo,  who  lived  under  Augustus  and  was 
praetor,  tribune,  and  Septemvir  Epulonum^  i.e.  a  member  of 
the  college  of  priests  who  had  the  management  of  sacrificial 
banquets.  Among  his  heirs  was  Agrippa,  who  died  in 
12  B.C.  The  pyramid  must  therefore  be  earlier  than  that 
date.  It  is  built  of  concrete  with  a  facing  of  marble.  Hence 
the  wall  ran  directly  to  the  Tiber  and  returned  along  the 
river  bank  (this  part  has  been  destroyed)  as  far  as  the  Mar- 
^  A  portion  of  it  collapsed  in  1893. 


XIV.]  THE  WALLS  OF  ROME  361 

morata.  Here  there  were  two  towers,  one  on  each  bank  of 
the  river  ;  on  the  R.  bank  was  the  Porta  Portuensis,  about 
five  hundred  yards  outside  the  modern  Porta  Portese.  The 
Transtiberine  fortification  has  almost  entirely  disappeared, 
and  the  Porta  Aurelia  (Porta  S.  Pancrazio)  and  Porta  Septi- 
miana  (Porta  Settimiana)  have  been  modernised. 

On  the  R.  bank  the  wall  began  again  at  the  Pons  Aure- 
lius,  represented  by  the  modern  Ponte  Sisto,  and  was  con- 
tinued until  it  reached  a  point  on  a  level  with  the  Porta 
Flaminia.  The  mausoleum  of  Hadrian  (p.  349)  was  con- 
verted into  a  tete  de  pont  and  its  approaches  fortified.  The 
wall  has,  however,  completely  disappeared. 


INDEX 


Achilles,  41,  107  f. 

.Elius  Lamia,  gardens  of,  138 

^milius  Lepidus,  M.,  44,  265 

iEschines,  283 

iEsculapius,  70,  266,  290 

Affricano,  19 

Agesander,  300 

Agoracritus,  278 

Agrippa,  M.  Vipsanius,  10, 
173,  182,  223,  360 

Agrippina  (elder),  113,  (youn- 
ger) 242 

Aius  Locutius,  89 

Alabaster,  20 

Alae,  91 

Alaric,  50,  195 

Alatri,  353 

Alba  Longa,  218 

Alban  hills,  3,  223,  260 

Albani,  Cardinal,  104 

Albano,  Lake  of,  109 

Alcamenes,  124,  278,  298, 
312,  320,  333 

Alcibiades,  54,  316 

Aldobrandini  marriage,  345  f . 

Alexander,  ^^,  129,  188 

Alexandria,  219,  277 

Alexandrian  art,  35,  125,  186 

Algardi,  113 

Algid  us,  260 

Alimentary  table,  201 

Altars,  137,  200,  302.  See 
Ara 

Amalasuntha,  137 

Amazons,  32,  123,  129,   186, 

327 
Amphitheatre.       See    Colos- 
seum 

Amphitheatrum  Castrense, 
225.  359 


Amphora,  339 

Anacreon,  :^2,  136 

Ancilia,  75 

Ancona,  161 

Ancus  Martins,  67 

Animal  sculpture,  145,  188, 
285  ff. 

Antinous,  38,  130,  233,  279 
(so-called,  of  the  Belve- 
dere), 32,  306 

Antioch,  ZZ>  Z2>7 

Antiquarium,  253  fi. 

Antisthenes,  283 

Aphrodisias,  sculptors  of,  1 14, 
119,  121,  126,  207,  299 

Aphrodite,  throne  of,  ^i^,  206; 
Capitoline,  iii,  275  ;  Cni- 
dian,  32,  274  f.  ;  crouch- 
ing, 34,  298  ;  types  of, 
298  f.     See  Venus. 

Apis,  277 

Apollo,  of  the  Belvedere, 
29  f.,  ^2>>  271.  303  ;  Lizard- 
slaying,  32,  291 

Apoxyomenos,  ^;^,  326 

Appian  Way,  260 

Appius  Claudius,  222,  260 

Aqueducts — 222  ff.  ;  Anio 
novus,  223,  359 ;  Anio 
vetus,  223  ;  Aqua  Anto- 
niniana,  223,  260,  263  ; 
Appia,  222  ;  Claudia,  17, 
223,  242,  256,  359  ;  Julia, 
223  ;  Marcia,  223  ;  Te- 
pula,  223  ;  Virgo,  10,  182, 
223. 

Ara  Maxima,  264 

Ara  Pads  Augustas,  2,7,  39. 
184,  204  f.,  302 

Arcesilaus,  285 


363 


3^4 


INDEX 


Arch — of  the  Argentarii,  267; 
of  Augustus,  46  ;  of  Clau- 
dius, 181;  of  Constantine, 
39  f.,  57,  249  ff.  ;  of  Dio- 
cletian, 181  ;  of  Dolabella 
and  Silanus,  243  ;  of  Dru- 
sus,  261  f.  ;  of  Fabius,  45  ; 
of  Gallienus^  221,  355  ;  of 
Septimius  Severus,  26,  40, 
46,  55  ;  of  Tiberius,  58  ; 
of  Titus,  5,  25,  39,  80,  237, 
249  ;  of  Trajan,  261  ;  of 
Varus,  261. 

Arco,  dei  Pantani,  14,  154; 
di  Portogallo,  135 

AYea  Capitolina,  10 1,  146 

Argiletum,  63,  154 

Ariadne,  35,  41,  286  f. 

Aristeas,  121 

Aristotle,  171,  208 

Armamentarium,  249 

Arval  brotherhood,  201,  275 

Ash-chests,  Etruscan,  339 

Aspasia,  281 

Assyrian  sculpture,  185 

Athalaric,   137 

Athena,  105,  112,  329 

Athenis,  31 

Athenodorus,  300 

Atrium,  91  f.,  270 

Atrium  Vestae,  72 

Attains  I,  34,  107,  214,  338 

Auditorium  of  Maecenas,  226, 

355 
Augur atoriiim,  84 
Augustan  art,  2)7>  204 
Augustus,    statue    of,    from 

Prima     Porta,     :3,7,     322  ; 

bust    of,    in    Vatican,    2>7> 

293.     See  Emperors. 
Aventine,    5,    7  f.,    229,    263, 

356 

Babylonian  sculpture,   185 
Baiae,  Bay  of,  278 
Barbarians,  types  of,  in  art, 

128,  132,  137,  338 
Barberini  suppliant,  297 
Barracks  of  vigiles,  17,  270 
Basalt,  20 


Basilicae — ^Emilia,  45,  6^)  ', 
of  Constantine.,  12,  15,  24, 
78,  258  ;  Julia,  49,  62,  93  ; 
of  Junius  Bassus,  44,  148  ; 
of  Neptune,  182  ;  Porcia, 
44  ;  Sempronia,  44  ;  Ulpia, 

155- 
Beli&arius,   356 
Belvedere,  102,  271 
Bernini,  193 
Bias,  281 

Biga,  Sala  della,  2)2)^ 
Bigio,  18  ;    b.  morato,  18 
Black  Stone,  53 
Bocca  della  Verita,  266 
Boethus,  34,  127 
Bramante,  271 
Breccia,  20  f. 
Bridges — Pons  ^lius,  349  ; 

Pons   ^milius,    265,    268  ; 

Aurelius,      361  ;       Cestius, 

268  ;   Fabricius,  268  ;  Sub- 

licius,  8,  265,  268  ;    Valen- 

tiniani,  263 
Bronze  Age,   176 
Bronzes,      Room     of,      148  ; 

Etruscan,  343  f. 
Brutus,  L.  Junius,   143  ;    M. 

Junius,  130 
Bryaxis,  Z2,.  ^77 
Brygos,   342 
Bupalus,  31 
Burnum,    161 
Busts,  shapes  of,  37  n. 

Cacus,  Stairs  of,  89. 
Caelian,  5,  7,  17,  99,  229 
Caelius  Saturninus,  240 
Caesar,  Julius,  9  f,,  45,  49,  51, 

53.  57,  59,  194  ;    portraits 

of,  131,  186,  320 
Calamis,  122,  255 
Caldarium,  258  f. 
Camillus,  t,6,  144,  205 
Canachus,  318 
Canova,  192,  304,  310 
Capitol,  5  ff.,  85,  100  ff. 
Cappellaccio,  13,  64,  88 
Career,  46 
Carinae,  8 


INDEX 


365 


Carpathians,    158  f. 
Castor  and  Pollux,  64,  70 
Castra  Praetor ia,  359 
Catilinarians,  47 
Cato  the  Elder,  44 
"  Cato  and  Porcia,"  294 
Cella  Soliaris,  258 
Celts,   34 
Cenatio  Jovis,  95 
Centaurs,  35,  121,  138,  286 
Cephisodotus,  33,  203 
Cermalus,  6,  87 
Cervetri,  sculptures  from,  ^,7, 
39,    235  ;     treasure    from, 

344 
Charioteers,    146,    218,    232, 

Churches— S.   Adriano,   47, 

5 1  f .  ;  S.  Anastasia,  99  ; 
S.  Andrea  della  Valle,  240; 
S.  Bartolommeo,  266  ;  S, 
Bonaventura,  96  ;  S.  Ce- 
cilia, 270  ;  S.  Cesareo,  96  ; 
SS.  Cosma  e  Damiano,  yy, 
141  ;  S.  Costanza,  25, 
272  ;  S.  Francesca  Ro- 
mana,  79  ;  S.  Giorgio  in 
Velabro,  86,  267  ;  S.  Gio- 
vanni dei  Falegnami,  46  ; 
S.  Giovanni  in  Laterano,  5, 

52  ;  S,  Lorenzo  in  Lucina, 
135  ;  S.  Maria  degli  An- 
geli,  198,  258  ;  S.  Maria 
Antiqua,  65,  83  ;  S.  Maria 
in  Araceli,  100  ;  S.  Maria 
in  Campitelli,  8,  166  ;  S. 
Maria  in  Cannapara,  57  ; 
S.  Maria  in  Cosmedin,  88, 
266  ;  S.  Maria  Maggiore, 
5  f.,  148  ;    S.  Martina,  47  ; 

5.  Pietro  in  Vaticano,  23, 
269  f.  ;  S.  Pietro  in  Vincoli 

6,  8,  305  ;  Forty  Martyrs, 
66,  83  ;  S.  Saba,  7  ;  S. 
Sabina,  5 

Cicero,  47,85,  93(portrait)i  19 

Cipollino,   1 9 

Circus — Flaminius,  166,  270; 

Maximus,  88,  98,  230,  257; 

Vatican,  269 


Cispius,  6,  226 
Cista  Ficoroni,   180 
Classicism  in  art,  36 
Cleopatra,    268  ;     (so-called, 

statue),  271,  286 
Clivus    Capitolinus,    48,    58, 

10 1  ;     C.    Publicius,    263  ; 

C.    Sacer,    78  ;    C.    Scauri, 

242  ;    C.  Victoriae,  86,  93, 

142 
Cloaca   Maxima,    7,    42,  -62, 

267 
Coinage,  Roman,  179 
Colosseum,   11,   14,  22  f.,  25, 

237  ff- 
Columbarium,  230,  261  f. 
Columna    rostrata,    44,     132, 

165 
Columns  —  of      Antoninus 

Pius,  40, 1 84, 3  3 1 ;  of  Marcus 

Aurelius,      40,      182  ;       of 

Phocas,     58  ;     of    Trajan, 

40,    156  £f. 
Comitium,   7,    10,  42,   51   ff., 

86 
Concrete,  18 
Constantia,  182 
Constantine,     portrait,     132. 

See  Emperors 
Consus,  58,  260 
Corbulo,  portrait,  -^y,  118 
Crater,  339 
Cresilas,    32,    123,    129,    142, 

325 
Crypta  Balbi,  i6y 
Curia.     See  Senate-house 
Curia  Pompeii,  168 
Curtius,  M.,  60,  133 
Cylix,  339  ff. 

Dacians,   158  £f.;    figures  of, 

106,  253,  329 
Damophon,  35,  iio 
Decebalus,  117,  158 
Decemvir  sacris  faciimdis,  310 
Demeter,  278 

Demosthenes,  34,  283,  326 
Dew-goddesses,  3 1 1 
Diadumenos,    186,   291,   299, 

307 


366 


INDEX 


Dionysiac  sarcophagi,  41 

Dioscuri,  103,  196.  See  Cas- 
tor and  Pollux 

Dioscurides,   142 

Discobolus,  no,  219,  n-i, 

Doedalsas,  34,  299 

Domitius  Ahenobarbus,  Cn., 
136 

Domus  Augustana,  94  ;  D. 
Aurea,  see  Golden  House  ; 
D.  Flavia,  94  ;  D.  Liviae, 
16,  93  ;  d.  publica,  72  f.  ; 
d.  transitoria,  226 

Doryphorus,  186,  315,  318, 
321 

Drusus  the  Elder,  262 

Duilius,  G.,   132,  165 

Emperors :  Byzantine — An- 
astasius  I,  137  ;  Constans 
II,  174  ;    Zeno,  137,  242 

Emperors  :  Roman — Anto- 
ninus Pius,  52,  184,  331  ; 
Augustus,  9  f,,  17,  49,  57, 
84  f.,  96,  98,  106,  152,  185, 
257  ;  Aurelian,  16,  356  ff.  ; 
Caligula,  65,  93,  220,  288  ; 
Caracalla,  48,  55  f,,  218, 
257,  263,  267,  349  ;  Clau- 
dius, 181  f.,  224,  229,  276  ; 
Claudius  Gothicus,  251  ; 
Clodius  Albinus,  289  ;  Com- 
modus,  139,  349  ;  Con- 
stantine,  12,  39,  55,  104, 
195,  249  ;  Constantius  II, 
^37>  257  ;  Diocletian,  12, 
39,  46,  51,  55,  181,  197  ; 
Domitian,  60,  65  f.,  97, 
103  f.,  134,  175,  329;  Ga- 
lerius,  55  ;  Gallienus,  39, 
222  ;  Geta,  55  f.,  267  ; 
Gordian  III,  41,  208  ; 
Hadrian,  11,  16,  72,  Son., 
93,  97,  106,  138,  173,  279, 
349  ;  Heliogabalus,  304  ; 
Honorius,  356 ;  Marcus 
Aurelius,  11,  102,  133  ff., 
182  f¥.,  251  f.  ;  Maxentius,  | 
52  f.,  77  f.,  249  ;  Nero,  11, 
16  f.,  79  n.,  85,  226,  242  f.  ;   1 


Nerva,  Oi,  279  ;  Otho, 
227  ;  Pertinax,  289  ;  Pes- 
cennius  Niger,  56  ;  Philip 
the  Arabian,  38,  329  ; 
Probus,  356  ;  Pupienus, 
326  ;  Septimius  Severus, 
48,  57.  71,  77,  141.  267. 
349 ;  Severus  Alexander, 
103,  107,  221  ;  Theodosius 
I,  73  ;  Tiberius,  10,  37,  48, 
93,  152;  Titus,  II,  224, 
227,  234;  Trajan,  11,  38, 
57,  61  f.,  81,  158  ff.,  227  ; 
Verus,  275,  288  ;  Vespa- 
sian, ^7,  77,  80  n.,  127, 
^33'  154.  200,  224,  288, 
302  ;  Vitellius,  loi,  133, 
302;  (portraits)  112  ff., 
125  f.,  233  f. 

Emporium,  265 

Empresses,  Byzantine  and 
Roman  —  Ariadne,  137  ; 
Faustina  (elder),  280, 
(younger)  305  ;  Julia  Dom- 
na,  71,  267,  280;  Julia 
Mammaea,  107  ;  Livia,  i5f., 
93  ;   Plotina,  276  ;   Sabina, 

147 
Endymion,  41 
Ennius,  309 
Epimenides,  284 
Equites  singulares,  128 
Eros,  108,  III 
Esquiline,  5  ff.,  85,  221  ff. 
Etruscan  art,  338  ff,,  351 
Etruscans,  2,  22,  28,  147,  185 
Euphranor,  124,  299,  338 
Euphronios,  342 
Euripides,  34,  118,  326 
Eutychides,  33,  ^Z7 
Excuhitorium,  269 
Exedra,  96,  198,  227 
Exekias,  341 

Fabius  Maximus,  Q.,  89 
Fabius  Xanthus,  58 
Falerii,  28,  351  ff." 
Fasti,  75,   136 
Faustulus,  53,  84 
Fig-tree,  Sacred,  84,  135 


INDEX 


367 


Fiov  di  per  si  CO,  19 

Fisherman,  23^ 

Flamines,  68,  75 

Flavian  dynasty,  11,  16,  57, 
93  ;  Flavian  palace,  5,  16, 
18.  93  f. 

Forum — of  Augustus,  152  ft.; 
Boarium,  8,  230,  264  ; 
Holitorium,  8,  165  ;  of 
Julius  Caesar,  45,  151  ;  of 
Nerva,  155  ;  of  Peace,  78, 
154;  Romanum,  7,  9, 
42  f¥.  ;  of  Trajan,  11,  39, 
155  ff.,   190,  231,  250,  355 

Frigidarium,  250  f. 

Fulvius  Nobilior,  M.,  44 

Furrina,  grove  of,  269 

Galleria  Lapidaria,  330 

Ganymede,  33,  335 

Gardens  of  Agrippina,  269  ; 
of  Caesar,  268  ;  of  Domitia, 
269 

Gates — Porta  Appia,  262, 
360  ;  Asinaria,  360  ;  Au- 
relia,  357  ;  Capena,  98, 
257  ;  Carmentalis,  165  ; 
Esquilina,  221  ;  Flaminia, 
357,  222  ;  Metrovia,  360  ; 
Maggiore,  222 ;  Mugonia, 
88;  Ostiensis,  361;  Port- 
ese,  268,  361  ;  Prae- 
nestina,  359 ;  Romana, 
86 ;  Salaria,  140,  358  ; 
San  Pancrazio,  268  ;  San- 
qualis,  355  ;  Settimiana, 
268  ;    Tiburtina,  359 

Gauls,  7,  54,  106  ;  (in  art) 
34,  41,  128 

Genre  sculpture,  129,  145, 
193.  215 

Giallo  antico,   18 

Girl-runner,  31,  337 

Gladiators,   191 

Glass,  ancient,  343 

Glycon,  257 

Golden  House,  11,  79  n.,  226 

Gold  ornaments,  Greek,   344 

Goths,  50,  356  f. 

Gracchi,  45 


Graces,  316 

Granite,  20 

Grave-reliefs,  147,  187  f.,  298 

Greeks,  2,  4,  21  f.,  26  ff. 

Grove  of  the  Caesars,  269 

Harpocrates,  125 

Hera,  278 

Hermaphrodite,  35,  193,  215 

Hermes  of  the  Belvedere,  306 

Hippodromus,  195 

Honos,  81 

Horatius,  265 

Horrea,  106,  265 

Hut-urns,  177,  341,  352 

Hydria,  339 

Hymettus  marble,  18 

Ingenuus,  288 
lo,  91 

Iron  Age,  177 
Isis.  139,  175 
Island,  in  Tiber,  266 

Janiculum,  4,  265,  268 

Janus  Quadrifrons,  266 

Jerusalem,  temple  of,  81 

Juba  II,  106 

Jugurtha,  47 

Julian     the     Apostate,     so 

called,   119 
Juno  Ludovisi,  36,  209 
Juturna,  68,  83 
Juvenal,  11 

Kronos,  336 

Lacus  Curtius,  42,  60 
Landscape,  in  sculpture,  36. 

See  Reliefs 
Lanuvium,  107 
Laocoon,    29,    35,    228,    271, 

300  f. 
Lararium,  95 
Lares,  137,  148,  280 
Lateran,  102,  143,  230  ff. 
Latins,  3,  177 
Lavinium,  218 
Leda,  33,  11 1 
Lekythos,  340 


368 


INDEX 


Leochares,  33,  303,  335 
Lex  Rcgia,  127 
Libera,  336 
Library,  Vatican,  345 
Licinius  Crassus,  M.,  85 
Ligures  Baebiani,  201 
Li  villa,  288 

Lombard  remains,  220 
Lucus  Furringe,  269 
Luna  marble,  28 
Lupercal,  84,  88 
Lusius  Quietus,   160 
Lutatius  Catulus,  Q.,  45,  150 
Lysippus,  32,   108,   124,   149, 
188,  194,  208,  212,  236,  326 

Macedonia,  9 

Maecenas,  142,  221,  226 

Maenad,  32,  142 

Mappa,  140 

Marathon,  338 

Marble  plan  of  Rome,  jy,  145 

Marbles,  17  ff. 

Marcellus,  M,  Claudius,  166 

Marforio,  104 

Marius,  trophies  of,  103,  133, 
221 

Mark  Antony,  so-called,  38, 
328 

Market  of  Nero,  242 

Mars,  53,  55,  75,  80,  186; 
"  Mars  of  Todi,"  343 

Marsyas,  59,  61  f.,  143,  235 

Mausoleum — of  Augustus, 
185  ;  of  Hadrian,  11,  269, 
349  ;    of  Helena,  274 

Meleager,  of  the  Vatican,  32, 
190,  307 

Menander,  314;  so-called, 
194,  292 

Menelaus,  3G,  207 

Meta  Sudans,  249 

Metellus,  Q.  Caecilius,  167 

Michelangelo,  10 1  f.,  141,  198 

Milestone,  Golden,  58 

Mithradates,  145 

Mithras,  234,  313 

Monte  Cavallo,  50  ;  M.  Ma- 
rio, 268  ;  M.  Testaccio,  8, 
263 


Monumentum      Ancyranum, 

185 
Mosaics,  108,  148,  191,  231, 

241,  276,  285 
Munatius  Plancus,  L.,  49 
Muses,   275,   280,  282  f.,   292 
Museums — Barracco,i85  ff.; 

Kircheriano,    175  ff.  ;     La- 

teran,      221   ff.  ;      Terme, 

198  ff.  ;      Vatican,     272  ff. 

(Egyptian,  344  ;  Etruscan, 

338) 
Myron  I,  31,   143 
Myron  H,  34,  1 10 

Naevius  Surdinus,  L.,  59,  133 
Nemi,  Lake  of,  109,  220 
Neo- Attic  sculptors,   s^,   135 
Neolithic  Age,  3,  176 
Nero  antico,  19 
Nero,  Pool  of,  243 
Nicosthenes,  341 
Nile,  35,  271,  328 
Niobids,  ^^,   no,  297,"  324 
Nova  Via,  83,  93 
Numa  Pompilius,  67 
Nuraghe,  178 

Nymphaeum,  95  ;  of  Alex- 
ander, 103 

Obelisks,   184,  242,  257 

Octavia,  166 

Octavius,  Cn.,  167 

Odyssey,  landscapes  from, 
346  ft. 

CEnochoi',  340 

Opimius,  L.,  45,  48 

Oppius,  6,  8,  226 

Ops,  72,  76 

Opus  albarium,  72  ;  o.  Alcx- 
andrinum,  64  ;  o.  incer- 
tvim,  16  ;  o.  mixtum,  17  ; 
o.  quadraUim,  14  ;  0.  feti- 
culatum,  16  ;  0.  sectile, 
147  ;  o.  signinum,  7$  ; 
o.  spicatum,  77,  248  ;  o. 
testaceiim,   16 

Orders  of  architecture- 
Composite,  25  ;  Corinthian, 
25,   200,    265  ;     Doric,  25  ; 


INDEX  369 


Ionic,  25,  265  ;  Tuscan,  25, 

lOI 

Orestes  and  Electra,  group, 

36,  207 
Ornament,  26,  232,  238 
Osiris,  277 
Ostia,   paintings  from,    348  ; 

sculptures  from,  200 
Otricoli,      sculptures      from, 

275  f- 

Paedagogium,  98  f. 

Paintings,  91,  181,  215  if., 
241,   345  ff. 

Paleolithic  Age,   175 

Palatine,  5  ff.,  16,  84  ff. 

Palazzo — dei  Conservatori, 
19,  loi  f.,  131  ff.  ;  del 
Senatore,  5,  47,  loi  f., 
150  ;    Spada,  168  ff. 

Palestrina,  178,  180 

Palmyra,  356 

Palmyrene  art,   147,  186 

Pamphaios,  342 

Pantheon,  11,  20,  22,  172  ff. 

Papias,  121 

Parian  marble,  18 

Paris,  290,  338 

Parks — of  the  Acilii,  190; 
of  ^lius  Lamia,  138  ; 
Horti  Liciniani,  222  ;  of 
Lucullus,  189  ;  of  Mae- 
cenas, 10  ;  142,  of  Sallust, 
10,  194  If. 

Pasiteles,   T)^,  207 

Pasquino,  104,  171,  294 

Pavonazzetto,  18 

Pendentives,  24,  260 

Penelope  (so-called),  315 

Pentelic  marble,   18 

Peperino,  13  ;  sculptures  in, 
256,  309 

Pergamene  art,  34,  128,  209, 
289,  294  f.,  338 

Periander,  281 

Pericles,  32,  281 

Personifications  in  sculpture, 
I34f. 

Pessinus,  90 

Pharsalus,  152 


Phidias,  ^2,  123,  129,  197, 
277,  291,  319,  338 

Philippi,  152 
i    Philiscus,  292,  318,  324 

Phoenician  bowls,  178,  344 
!   Phradmon,  123 
I   Pigna,  331 
j   Pincian,  4,  10,  189 
I  Piscina,  258 
'   Plato,  119,  284 

Plutei,  61 

Polycles,  215,  283 

Polyclitus,  31,  50,  123,  129, 
186  f.,  255,  307,  315,  327, 

Polydorus,  300 

Polyeuctus,  34,  326 

Polygnotus,  241 

Polyphemus,  92 

Pomerium,  11,  87,  229,  265 

Pompeii,  9,  92 

Pompey  (so-called),   168 

Pomponius  Hylas,  Colum- 
barium of,  261 

Pontifex  Maximus,  67,  76 

Pontifices,  75 

Popes — Anastasius  IV,  274  ; 
Benedict  XIV,  104,  175, 
244,  271  ;  Boniface  IV, 
174;  Clement  VII,  271; 
Clement  VIII,  346  ;  Cle- 
ment XIT,  102,  251,  271  ; 
Clement  XIV,  271  ;  Gre- 
gory XVl,  272,  344  ;  Ha- 
drian I,  266  ;  Innocent 
VIII,  181,  271  ;  Innocent 
X,  104  ;  Julius  II,  102, 
270,  304  ;  Julius  III,  351  ; 
Leo  X,  302  ;  Nicolas  V, 
102  ;  Paul  III,  268,  360  ; 
Paul  V,  79,  271  ;  Pius  IV, 
271  ;  Pius  V,  103  ;  Pius 
VI,  271  ;  Pius  VII,  272  ; 
Sixtus  IV,  102,  143,  270  ; 
Sixtus  V,  98 

Porphyry,  20 

Porta  santa,  18 

Porticus — Deorum  Consen- 
tium,  49,  150;  Divorum, 
175;     Metelli,    lu  ;     Octa- 


370 


INDEX 


via,  167  ;   Octaviae,  166  f.  ; 

Philippi,  167  ;  Pompeiana, 

167 
Portraits— Greek,    116    ff., 

129;    Roman,     27,     36   f., 

112  ff.,    125  £f.,  233  f.,  238, 

293  flf.,  313  f. 
Posidippus,  292 
Pozzolana,   15,  23 
Prcetexta,  144 
Praetextatus,     Vetlius     Ago- 

rius,  49 
Prati  di  Castello,  9 
Praxiteles,  29,  2)2  f--  124,  197, 

203,  207,  240,  274  f.,  289, 

291 
Prehistoric  remains,  3,  175  ff. 
Prometheus,   108,  202 
Pseudo-Seneca,  type,  35,  116, 

216 
Ptolemy  I,  277 
Pudicitia,  35,  107,  324 
Puteal,  36,  112,  335  f. 
PiUiculi,  221 
Pyramid  of  Cestius,  360 
Pythagoras  (philosopher),  54, 

119  ;    (sculptor)  122 

Quirinal,  5  ff.,  10,  194  If. 
Quirinus,  6,  217 

Raphael,  193,  286 
Regia,  17,  43.  67,  7i'  I35 
Reliefs — grave,    147,    187  f., 

298  ;     historical,    27,    133, 

217  ;  landscape,  116,  i2olf. 

169  ff.,  202,  232,  287,  337  ; 

stucco,   211,    341  ;     tragic, 

233  ;    votive,  188 
Remus,    136 
Rex  Sacronim,  67 
Rhea  Sylvia,  80,  217 
Rhodian  art,  35,  300 
Roads — Via  Appia,    15,  98, 

103,  257  f.  ;   Labicana,237; 

Latina,  107,  238,  260.    See 

Streets 
Romulus  (founder  of  Rome), 

53,   60,  67,   84,    136,   217  ; 

(son  of  Maxentius),  77 


Rosso  antico,  19 

Rostra,  44,  53,  56  f.,  63,  253 

Sabines,  6,  67 

Saepta,    181 

Sallust,     gardens     of,      128, 

194  ff. 
Salonae,  161 
Samiarium,  249 
Sarapis,  t,t,,  277 
Sarcophagi,    41  f.,    192,    203, 

207,  219,  309  ;   (Etruscan), 

338  f.  ;    (Egyptian),  344 
Sardanapallus,  so-called,  332 
Sardinia,  128,  178 
Scalae  Gemonige,  47,  10 1 
Schola  Xanthi,  58 
Scipio    Africanus,     118;     S. 

Barbatus,    41,     201,     261, 

309  ;    S.  Orfitus,  126 
Scopas,  32  f.,  106,  139,  208  f., 

219,  235,  255,  307 
Secular  games,  210 
Seleucus,  216 
Semo  Sancus,  336 
Senate-house,  47,  51 
Septimontium,  6 
Septizodium,   98,   256 
Serpentine,   20 
Servius  Tullius,  7.    See  Walls 
Sessorium,  225 
Sette  Sale,  227,  300 
Sextius  Calvinus,  C,  89 
Shoemaker,     tombstone     of, 

141 
Sibylline  books,  90 
Silanion,  34,  284 
Smaragdus,   59 
Socrates,   116,   316 
Solon,   142 
Sophia,  S.,  260 
Sophocles,  34,  235,  284 
Sosicles,    122 
Sosius,  G.,    166 
Sosus,   108 
Sperone,   1 3 
Spoliarium,   249 
Stadium  of  Domitian,   172 
Statio  Annoncs,  266 
Stephanus,  36,  207 


INDEX 


371 


Stesichorus,    108 

Streets — Via  Lata,  164,  181, 
204  ;  Nova  Via,  83,  93  ; 
Via  Sacra,  43,  51,  67^., 
237  ;  Via  Triumphalis,249; 
Vicus  Capitis  African,  242  ; 
Vicus  Jugarius,  51  ;  Vicus 
Patricius,  226  ;  Vicus  pis- 
cinae publicae,  263  ;  Vicus 
Tuscus,  58,  65,  86 

Studius,  215 

Subiaco,  213    . 

Subura,  8,  154,  226 

Sulla,  9,  45,  133,  145 

Sulpicius  Maximus,  Q,,   140 

Summum  Choragium,  249 

Suovetaurilia,  55,  61,  251 

Syria,  9 

Syriskos,   352 

Tabernae,   50 

Tablinum,  J2>>  9i 

Tabularium,  9,  13,  22  f., 
47  f.,  loi,  149  f. 

Tacitus,  ?>7 

Tarpeian  rock,  149 

Tarquinius  Priscus,  100 

Tarquinius  Superbus,  42,  67 

Tatius,  T.,  67 

Telamones,  272 

Temples — of  Antoninus  and 
Faustina,  19,  76  ;  of 
Apollo  (in  the  Campus 
Martins),  8,  166  ;  of  Apollo 
(on  the  Palatine),  31,  86, 
96  n.  ;  of  Augustus,  65, 
85,  93  ;  of  Castor  and 
Pollux,  13,  44,  63  ff.,  93  ; 
of-  Ceres,  etc.,  27,  266  ;  of 
Claudius,  242  ;  of  Con- 
cord, 44,  148  f.  ;  of  Cybele, 
85.  90.  190  ;  of  Diana,  229; 
of  Fortune,  265  ;  of  Ha- 
drian, 183  ;  of  Hercules, 
266  ;  of  Hope,  165  ;  of 
Isis  and  Serapis,  175,  271  ; 
of  Janus,  63,  165  ;  of  Juno, 
167  ;  of  Juno  Sospita,  165  ; 
of  Jupiter  (in  the  Campus 
Martius),    167  ;  of  Jupiter, 


Juno  and  Minerva,  9,  13, 
61,  100  f.,  133  ;  of  Jupiter 
Stator,  82,  237  ;  of  Jupiter 
Victor,  85,  89  ;  of  the 
Lares,  82  ;  of  Marcus 
Aurelius,  184;  of  Mars 
without  the  walls,  360  ; 
of  Mars  Ultor,  152,  190  ; 
of  Mater  Matuta,  265  ;  of 
Minerva,  155;  of  "Min- 
erva Medica,"  so-called, 
24,  222  ;  of  Pietas,  165  ; 
of  Portunus,  264  ;  of 
Quirinus,  217  ;  of  Saturn, 
1 3,  43,  49  f.  62  ;  of  the  Sun, 
184;  of  Tellus,  305;  of 
Trajan,  163  ;  of  Venus 
Cloacina,  62  ;  of  Venus 
Erycina,  195,  206  ;  of 
Venus  Genetrix,  9,  151; 
of  Venus  and  Rome,  79  ; 
of  Vespasian,  46,  48,  62, 
149,  237  ;    of  Victory,  86 

Tensa,   146 

Tepidarium,  258  f. 

Terra-cotta  (sculptures),  148, 
339.  351  »  (architectural), 
148,  179,  220,  351 

Terremare,    176 

Theatres — of  Balbus,  10, 167; 
of  Marcellus,  10,  166  ;  of 
Pompey,   167  f.,  278 

Theodorus,    168 

Thermae — of  Agrippa,  10, 
172  ;  of  Caracalla,  12,  22, 
24,  197,  257  ff.  ;  of  Dio- 
cletian, 12,  24,  197  ff., 
257  f.  ;  of  Helena,  225  ; 
of  Nero,  174  ;  of  Titus, 
227  ;    of  Trajan,  22y 

Thorn-extractor,  31,  144 

Thothmes  III,  242 

Tiber,  4,  9 

Tiberius  Gemellus,  288 

Tibicines,  256 

Timarchus,   50 

Timesitheus,  207 

Timotheus,  ^,2,  iii,  290 

Tivoli,    14 

Todi,  28,  343,  352 


372 


INDEX 


Tombs — of  Caecilia  Metella, 
15  ;  of  the  Haterii,  237  ; 
of  the  Scipios,  251  ;  of 
Vergilius  Eurysaces,  225 

Tor  Marancia,  325,  335,  352 

Torso  of  the  Belvedere,  308 

Trastevere,  268 

Travertine,   1 3  f . 

Tribunal,   59 

Tritons,  34,  39,  289 

Tufa,   1 3 

Tullianum,  47 

Umbilicus  Urbis  Roma,  58 
Ustrinum,   135,   184 

Vallis  Murcia,  257 
Vases,  Greek,  339  If.,  352 
Velabrum,  8,  86,  267 
Velia,  5  f.,  8,  67,  85 
Venus  of  the  Capitol,  1 1 1 
Venus    Genetrix    (so-called), 

32,  298 
Vercingetorix,  47 
Verde  antico,  20 
Vertumnus,  233 
Vesta,  43,  70  fi. 


Vestais,  72,  76 

Vigiles,  269  f. 

Villas — Borghese,  196  ff  ; 
Corsini,  269  ;  Farnesina, 
269;  Ludovisi,  195;  Me- 
dici, 5,  190  ;  Mills,  5,  95  f ; 
of  Nero  (at  Subiaco),  213  ; 
of  Papa  Giulio,  3  5 1  ff  ;  of 
the  Quinctilii,  20  ;  (float- 
ing, on  the  lake  of  Nemi), 
220 

Villanora  urns,  177. 

Viminal,  5  f.,  226 

Virtus,  81 

Vulcan,  43,   55 


Walls — of  Aurelian,  356  ff  ; 
of  Servius  Tullius,  so- 
called,    7,    197,    221,    263, 

354  ff. 
Wolf,  bronze,  of  Capitol,  135 

Zenas  I,  1 19 
Zenas  II,  114,  293 
Zeno  (philosopher),  35,  129; 
(sculptor),  207 


14  DAY  USE 

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